Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Parshat Lech Lecha 2

gave on Mount Si and even if you include the righteous Gentiles the righteous non-jews it will still be a small small minority do you think that there are 80 million of righteous people in the world righteous means that their whole life they dedicate to good they want to be good and they're striving to be good and they are learning how to be good and they're working on themselves and they are growing and they're improving they are perfecting themselves do you think there are 80 million people like that I doubt it because most people they don't have time to think they wake up and the phone is next to them they usually right away start checking messages browsing the web until they need to go to work or school and then at work they don't have time to think about God they have to make money or they have to study and during their breaks they're busy eating lunch or running after the opposite gender to create some pleasurable relationships and when they come home they're tired and they want some entertainment and they want some comfort and they want food and drink and sleep and some pleasant experiences people don't have free time free time means not time to sit on a beach fly to Vacation free time means that I can sit and I can think I think therefore I am when I am involved in the world I'm usually involved with my body or with physical matters usually it's when my body is at rest my eyes are not looking at flashing images my ears are not listening to pounding music my body is not involved in any pleasurable experience I'm just sitting without any um sensory input and then my mind can start thinking but for those of us who tried to think we know that it's a very difficult activity very difficult to think because we have eyes because we have ears because we have stomachs because we have skin with sensory receptors and even our mind is so quick and we think about what happened and what we saw on the screen and what may be in the future it's very difficult to focus on the moment now and think what am I doing here what is my role in life how can I connect to God how can I make myself a better person how many people out of 8 billion people do you think take 30 seconds a day to think I would say less than 1% I would say less than one tenth of a percent how many people stop and think how can I be a better person so the sages all agreed from both schools of shamai and H they agreed it's not good for the human being to be created because most people fail miserably 99.9% of people fail imagine in the classroom the teacher gives a test and 99% of students fail which means you have a a a whole huge classroom 100 people and 99 of them failed only one person passed so you say okay maybe it's just the beginning of the semester let's wait couple weeks past the teacher gives another test again out of 100 people 99 fail same 99 only one passes is uh only two possibilities either the teacher doesn't know how to teach or the students are not supposed to be in that class they should go to remedial they should go to a grade lower it's not good either the students shouldn't be there or the teacher shouldn't be there should call another teacher so what is it about our world is it because God can't teach us properly he didn't do a good job or is it because he didn't make us so good our brains are not powerful enough we we can't understand what God wants from us what is it and here there is a a third answer and that is the teacher is very good he's expert educator and the students are also very smart they're all honor students they all came from top schools they were all gathered one by one Gams of society so why 99% of them are failing and that is because the teacher made the test so difficult that 99% of students failed even though the teacher taught them the whole material perfectly and even though they're all Geniuses But the teacher made the test so difficult that almost no one can pass and the teacher made it on purpose like that because the teacher wanted to squeeze every bit of effort from the students the teacher wanted to find out who is the best and for that he had to make the test excruciatingly difficult so difficult that sometimes there's only one student out of a thousand that can pass so now you're going to ask is this a failed experiment does it mean that the teacher should stop and start giving easier tests and maybe these students should be advised not to go to that class and yes for those that want easier life for those that want Comfort yeah they shouldn't go there the this classroom is designed to choose the best and if you don't want to be the best then don't go to that classroom it's like in Special Forces you have General Army and let's say they take 50% of people some people they'll say you um your vision is not good you don't have a leg your hands are trembling we can't take you to the Army but 50% they'll say yes you're in good health and physical shape will take you but then they have special forces and they ask the soldiers would you like to try out for the special forces and most soldiers are going to say no no it's okay I I would rather just be a regular Soldier I don't want to work hard there will be let's say 10% who will say yeah why not I think I can do it they'll come and they'll be tested and testing is going to be very thorough and difficult and out of let's say those 10% off all registered to the Army only 1% will will pass the test 1110th let's say the Army recruited thousand people 100 of them agreed to try out for special forces and only 10 got into the special forces training and then the real training starts and it's very gruesome very difficult and only two students graduate you have a thousand people 100 of them decided to risk it 10 of them were accepted into the program and only two graduated and then the Army wants to know we have a special mission who should we send we have only two two um soldiers that made it up to be worthy to be considered for this special Mission and now we say let's see who is the best and we start testing two of them and only one of them comes out the Victor the winner and the mission is given to him that's how it was with Abraham Hashem said I have a lot in store for my chosen Nation a lot of challenges a lot of tests I need someone from Special Forces I need the best of the best so I'm going to purify millions of people reduced to one that one person is expanded further again we choose one out of millions a second time and yak and yov and Egypt Egyptian Exile and all the other Exiles which continue to purify us why because Hashem knows the journey is long go you have a long way to go make sure you take only those that can handle the journey and the Jewish people are still here we look back three and a half thousand years ago we received the Torah and Abraham was another 400 years before that almost 4,000 years that's our journey Abraham heard the command from God go and we are going for 4,000 years already so Hashem tells Abraham I'm going to give you your next assignment leave your land and your relatives and your father and go where should you go to the land that I will show you and God tests him further he doesn't even tell him where he's going to go and Abraham knows that in those times there there were no passports no citizenship no consulates no protection you are on your own as soon as you step out of your city walls you are on your own you go out of your country it's fair game you can be captured killed robbed or taken as a slave no one will think twice about it and you cannot call in for backup you're all by yourself no communication so Abraham listens to God and he takes his wife and his nephew and they go with their possessions and some servants they come into the country that God promised them the land of Canan and what do they see they're surprised until now the land of Canan was in the hands of children of shed um I'm sorry of Shem Noah had three sons Shem ham and yeffet and the land the Holy Land the land of Israel or the land of Canan originally was given to the seites to our fourfathers and to the uh descendants of Shem so when Abraham was going there he thought he's going to people who are from his race who are at least going to accept him because they come from one common ancestor and they come there and they're surprised and the canites are in the land at that time who are canites they're descendants of ham just like the Philistines the Palestinians and the gites and all the Seven Nations that live there they conquered the land and they kicked out the descendants of Shem and Abraham is asking himself why did God tell me to come here in the land of my enemies the worst time to come right when they conquered the land and they're eager to get rid of all their enemies and if they see another descendant of Shem coming they might kill me they might think that I'm starting up with them and not only that a greater challenge that God gave him all of a sudden there is a famine so AB looks at what's going on I'm surrounded by my enemies and there's nothing to eat not for myself and not for my animals no water to drink why did God tell me to come here it's a desert spiritual desert and physical desert and it's dangerous over here people are out to to to kill me this was a great test for Abraham and Abraham decided to go to Egypt Egypt has the Nile River River and therefore droughts and famines don't affect it as much and there is a disagreement between our um sages whether Abraham passed the test or he failed the test imagine the test is so difficult that we ourselves don't even know if he passed it imagine God puts you in a situation where people are hunting for you and there is no food and drink and God tells you stay here I want you to be here what am I going to do I'm hungry my my wife is hungry my animals are hungry and I have to hide people want to kill me should I listen to God or not so some sages say Abraham failed the test he should have stayed he shouldn't have gone to Egypt why did he go to MIT it's as if he's running away from the place where God tells him to be other sages say no When God gives you a command you have to fulfill the command but then after you fulfill the command you have to use your mind and make the next decision according to the situation God told Abraham leave your family and go to the country I show you and Abraham left his family and he went to the country that God showed him the land of Canan he came there he fulfilled God's command now he has to use his mind and he has to think is this the right time and place for me to be here no just like God gave me the command to go and I came so too God gave me a brain and I'm supposed to think what should be my next step I'm not supposed to just stand there like a statue I'm supposed to be flexible I'm supposed to take initiative and say God didn't tell me what to do after I come so I have to find the best uh step and Abraham passed the test he so then what was the test the test was how will he react to it will he say God I don't understand why did you tell me to come here I come all the way from the distant land it took me days and perhaps weeks to get here I left my family I risked my life and now what what's the reward you don't give me food you don't give me drink people want to kill me and even if I survive what is it for am I just spinning my wheels for nothing all this travel is for nothing he might get upset he might question God that would be the failure or he might say you know what I guess God made a mistake let me go back and he might turn around and travel back to his father and say you know what my dad you were right take out the idols and we'll serve them God forbid so Abraham made the right choice that he didn't question God he didn't get upset he said God told me to come here I came and I guess I have to step aside for a little bit and wait for the next command in the meantime let me go visit Egypt and so according to these commentators Abraham passed the test exactly now we say that Abraham had 10 tests and he passed all of them so that seems to fit with the opinion that Abraham actually passed this test and when Abraham came to Egypt he was faced with another test and that is he comes to people who don't value marriage especially someone else's marriage and he came to people who are not familiar with another race the Egyptians were from ham ham are African people who have um different skin color and different features And when they see a woman from seites from Shem they might be attracted it's a novelty for them we don't have these kinds of women among us so Abraham is coming to Egypt a powerful Empire without documents without protection what's going to be if they become interested in his wife there is no morality no Authority he's taking a big risk they might kidnap Sara without asking him or they might kill him first and then take her most likely they're not going going to say oh you want to live by us and you want to use our resources and you want to pasture your animals on our grass you're welcome no doesn't happen you're coming into our land give us your sheep give us your gold give us your wife and give us your life that was a big test for Abraham and he withstood that test and he said Sarah we have to be ready for everything and therefore don't tell them that you're my wife tell them that you're my sister then we have time we're buying time if they know that you're my wife they'll kill me because I'm standing in their way but if they know that I'm your brother then they'll come to speak to me and say can we marry your sister is your sister available and then I'll know what's on their mind and then we'll quickly run away but that was not to be because as soon as they came right away without asking him is this your wife or sister right away they said this woman looks like she's fit to be a queen all Jewish girls are beautiful in their physicality and even more beautiful in their character and even more beautiful in their spirituality and therefore Jewish girls present such a desire for everyone who sees them and therefore we have to protect our Jewish girls that's why we have laws of modesty proper conduct because we know that we are so special and desirable so they grabbed her right away and took her to PO and of course Hashem would not let his people down Hashem punished par and Par quickly returned her back to Abraham and escorted him out of Egypt he said it's too dangerous for you here I don't want TR trouble with your God please leave my people can't handle it don't show them any desirable object because they will be powerless against it and he gave him a lot of wealth and asked him to leave so Abraham went back to the land of Israel and surprisingly everything is fine there Everything Is Beautiful now we see that it was all a test abam comes back and he sees Lush Fields pasture so much so that lot's eyes opened up and said I want this land AB said you want this land please take it it's yours lot chose a large area where is known now as the Dead Sea to tell us that things that look Desir able to the eye might contain some death potion in them so this was God's way to separate and purify Abraham from the influence of lot then the Torah tells us about the evil nature of these five cities they were neighbors of lot and how has gave lot a chance to leave them he sent four Kings to fight against these five cities and they captured them and Abraham had to go and rescue them miraculous War a similar war that the Jewish people are have been fighting throughout the centuries small number against multitudes Abraham with few of his uh servants went to fight four armies four countries that's nothing new for us and he won and surprisingly we might expect lot to go back to Abraham and rejoin him and say I don't want these evil people but Lord says no I'll go right back to their evil ways Lord goes back to Sodom and uh Hashem informs lot that he will have to um destroy the land that's going to be in the next para now right after Hashem promises Abraham don't worry sometimes you have to fight and sometimes you have to kill