for Parshat Lech Licha
i
Abraham flees to Egypt
from the famine in Canaan.
*
He fears the Egyptians will kill him
over his beautiful wife.
*
Abraham and his nephew,
Lot,
share land.
But there is not enough land for both of them.
Their shepherds come to fighting.
They part ways.
*
Here
is a world
of scarce resources,
of winner-take-all.
ii
Lot
and others of Sedom
and their property
are captured in war.
Abraham rescues them.
The king of Sedom says:
I will take the souls, the people;
you, Abraham, keep the people’s property
you have rescued.
*
This is like a payment:
people for things.
*
Abraham says:
You, king, keep everything—
the people
and the things that come with them.
iii
In a world of scarcity
a person becomes
the things he has
that others want.
He is captured
or killed
or purchased:
anything
for others
to have his things;
and he becomes summed up
by what he has,
what can be taken away.
*
And that is the nature of economies.
*
But Abraham offers a revolution:
he refuses
to take
the value of a man
from him.
_____
Shabbat shalom,
Abe
Please pray for for Ayelet Yakira bat Chaya Hinda Matel Nechama
www.TorahParsha.com / @TorahParsha
Comments