Lech Lecha - 4th Portion

Join me as we learn together for the Kish of the fourth reading of Parasel chapter 14 verse one. As we as we read yesterday, we are Lot and Aram split ways. Lo going to the city of Sodom and Gomorrah thinking that he would be able to be on his own and independent of Aram and be successful as he was with Aram. Over here lo comes to see that he needs Aram again and is dependent on Av. And over here the verse begins and it wasn't the time of Amrael in the days of King Amrael. Who was the king Amrafel? Melik Shinar. He was the king of Shinar Malikallar. the king of alosared melamadar the king of videl melikim and sidol of goim who are these people this happened after we know the tower of bevel god split up all the different people in all the different places and different regions and over here these kings get together rashi explains to us who these people are rashi amrael verse One, who is Amrael? Somebody that we may have heard of before. Who? Nimrod. This is Nimr. Nimrod was the king of Shir. So then why was he called Rafel? Because he told Av to be thrown into the into the furnace of fire. the story of which is not clearly stated in the it happened before the beginning of parl when when left that as we know the very famous story of when he uh broke all his father's idols because of that nimro threw him into the fire so he was called because he said po throw him into the fire then Rashi continues who is melim so he tells us as follows. It doesn't mean that tidal was a king over many nations. It was a place which is called Why was it called? Because many have gathered there is from many different nations around the world. So therefore they called that place and from different places. So they called it and all the people together appointed somebody to be in charge of them. And this fellow's name was Tito. Verse two, who did they wage war against? They waged war against the king of Sadimra. Bersa the king of Amira. Shin of Malik Admma. of the king of Admma and the king of and the king of Bella which is and what did they do? He took all these kings and subdued them as we're going to see verse two Rashi explains their names again. Why was he called Barra? Because ba he had two types of evil. He were bad to the heavens towards God and he was bad for people was also called on his evil behavior. Shenis because he went up in his evil behavior. He continued to do more and more evil also from a terminology of hatred. He hated his father in heaven. Shem also comes from the word is from the word. S he added to himself a limb. What kind of limb did he add? A wing. He made as if he's able to fly and to jump to fly to jump that he could so to speak jump and fly to the heavens and rebel and rebel against God. Bella. This is not the name of the king shame. It's name of the city where the king that he mentioned previously was a king in that area. Now the Torah is going to tell us about the little events that happened which these people all of these that we just mentioned these five kings join forces. They joined forces and came to the valley of Sedim. He yamel. Where is the valley of Sidim? That is the area of the dead sea. So Rashi gives us a little bit of a explanation of where this is. Verse three. That's the name of the place. Why was it called the valley of Sedum? Because there was a lot of fields there. And there are many different medashic interpretations of why this name was called aid who rashi is telling us that later on this place became uh water came through it meaning initially it was a valley was meant for uh planting fields and things of that nature and as well being that it was an open area to have wars later on the sea came through it became what we know as today as the Dead Sea. The Medish gives another explanation that this valley eventually became a place became the Dead Sea only after the destruction of the places of Sodomorra that all the stones in it were broken around it and all the rivers therefore came through it and all the rivers started streaming through this area. So eventually became a sea which was the Dead Sea. Going back to what we spoke about the four kings against the five kings. So now the Torah goes back to explain to us what happened at this moment. Verse four, for 12 years they served for 13 years in the third and for 13 years they rebelled against him. So over here if we look at the timeline of where things were the Torah tells us about 1996 of creation of the world is when uh started heading this group for from 1996 to 2008 of the world's creation. Those 12 years they served Khadar Limr and his allies and for 13 years from 2009 to 2022 is when they decided to rebel against him as well. What does this mean? As we going to see Rashi tells us who were the ones and how were they doing it. So Rashi verse 4 years they served them going back to these kings meaning the kings that went out to fight them. lu asarim these five kings were under the jurisdiction and served. What happens in year 14th is as follows. Now in the year 14th that means after the 13 years of rebellion year 14th that means in the year 2023 is the same year where and load arrive in the city in the land of Kanan. This is where the action begins. And on the 14th year and the other three kings that were with him and the kings that were with him and they defeated the who were the we'll get to in a moment. Where were they? Theim and the that were inim these were as we look later in the book of Deuteronomy it talks about them that they remained after the flood. When we talk about oak he was a leader of them as we're going to see these individuals and we see his strength. Verse five, Rashi tells us, what does it mean the 14th year? The 14th year after 13 years of rebellion. Then the 14th year is when they began to wage war against them. He mentions only. If there was four kings waging war against the five kings, why is only his name mentioned? He was the main guy who was leading the war. And the other kings, the other three kings were only there to assist him. Because of that, he is the one that is considered that he takes the um the the he takes the most of the weight. He's carrying most of the weight. That's a terminology that we use. This guy's carrying most of the weight, meaning he's doing most of the action. And was that individual and all the other kings came just to help him and the kings. Well, what does he mean? The kings those are the three kings that we mentioned before and came to join along. An interesting note the balaturator mentions here that the 14 years in the 14th year of rebellion you find later on Hezekiah as well came to rebel against him in his 14th year as well. And just like these kings fell into the hands of Aram, so too San fell into the hands of Kuskio and he was not able to conquer him and they were and he ran away and was able to continue being king where he was. We now continue with verse six. They also defeated he was a strong fellow and all along the way he was defeating many different nations. He defeated the Kerites that were the Horites which were Baharam Seer in the mountains of Seer at El Pan until as far as El Pon Midbar which is on the Midbar. Rashi explains what does it mean the word in their mountain alon like the tarum explains which is the tells us the word ale over here means the valleys the plains of poni says that anytime you find this places these are all names of places he says al is not the mean a terminology of a plane but it was actually the name of the place Ella it means the almay and al was its name. So for example, the the valley the plane of pin was its name. The one of El was its name. And then you find it in other places where the one the plane of the yard was its name. Later on you also find a plane of like we find of hashimal. And so too when we find later on in the book of Joshua it says they're all translated in the mish but in the in the each have a separate name and therefore rashi wants to say that each one has its own unique name while they all may be a plane but their names were different it doesn't mean it was on the desert it was next to the desert like we find in other places on it was the tribe of manasha doesn't mean manasha was on top of a frame. It rested on the side of a frame. So we find the word al does not literally mean on top of but means to the side of. We then continue now in verse 7 verse 7 chapter 14 and they all return. They all arrive. They turned back and arrived at a place called a Mishbat which was headesh that is kadesh vayak is called stay and they conquered the entire field that would eventually later be the fields of the malleites the gami and also the amorites that were living at the time over here. Rashi tells us [clears throat] when the Torah tells us about certain names of places even though at the moment it wasn't called that name. It's telling us of what this place eventually was going to be called. Why was it called the eye of the judgment? Because Mosh were going to be judged and they were going to be judged about the events that happened by that. Well, hey, this is the complaining waters that caused that Mosh Aaron should not be able to enter into the land of Israel. However, the tarum translates it simply. He uses a terminology that this was just a place where all the people would come there to for judgment. It was the courthouse. The international court was in that area. stay and Rashi tells us reminds us was the son of Isa and therefore he has yet not yet been born. So how can it be called the field of the amalikra and over here it's called the field of the amaliki al because eventually this would be the place where amalik would stay in where is it geographic location that is the way explains it this is a full explanation of the verse you can find a full verse telling us exactly what happened where in the book of chronicles is telling us as well about the and the areas that this place was or is the Torah now continues with verse 8 and the king of the king of the king of the king of and they went forth and engaged in a battle with them where was the battle in the Valley of Sidim. Verse 9. The kings that were in battle over here was the king of the king of these four kings were waging war against the five. What's the Torah pointing this out for? And Rashi explains to us to tell us as follows. Because even though it was four against five, the four became still in all the minority is the one that won to tell you that these four kings were stronger. Even though they were mighty and strong, but they were able to be victorious over the five kings did not hold himself back from chasing after them. Verse 10. And the valley of Sedum was full of clay pits. And the kings of Sodom and Amora ran away. And they were being chased. And therefore they fled. And where' they come to? Sh. And they fell into the quagmires of the clay. Vanish. And other survivors ran to the mountains. Fled to the mountains. So the kings were stuck in the clay over there while the other people ran to the mountains. What kind of clay is this? And Rashi explains to us why they had these uh these areas which were full of clay. And he explains as follows. Rashi number 10. Why does the Torah tell us to twice? Because there were many of them. There were many ditches, many wells if you want to call it or ditches that were there that people would dig within the ground and they would be able to take clay from there or earth to make clay cement and clay to build explains because this was an area because in other places you would have to take the sand and the earth and the water and mix it together. over here. This was already mixed earth with water. It was moist. So it was clay and it's a miracle that he even made it out of there because generally when people would fall into it's like a quick sand and a person gets sunk into it and there's no way you're coming out of it. This was a miraculous event that the king of Saddam was even able to come out of there because there were some people amongst the nations. Now why was he worthy that this king of Sadom that a miracle should happen to him that he should come out of the quicksand out of that clay because there were many nations of the world some of them didn't believe they thought that this was just by chance that Ara was able to come out of that furnace of fire when this individual saw the miracle that he came out of the clay and was survived now retroactively they believe that yes that what happened to Ara was a miracle as well. That means initially they said maybe it just happened by chance who said God was there to be able to save him. But because they were now saved, they experienced a miracle. Then they can relate to others that experienced a miracle as well. And this is a common thing that we see today in people's lives that when they experience something monumental or something spiritual and a and a type of awakening, they then come to realize and appreciate other things that happened to other people in their life as well. They ran. They fled to the mountain. So what does this mean? the word usually when there is a hey before it the he is coming to tell me it's in Hebrew we call it the heay it's coming to let me know something telling us they ran to the mountain they fled to Rashi explains this because he has other proofs in other different places where the verses use the same to the mountain and over here Rashi is giving us a grammar lesson when it comes do any word that you would need to say put a lid before it. Therefore, sometimes the verse will put a he at the end mean to and if some however there is a difference when it says to the word where you have two hay the he at the end will be instead of the lament at the beginning. But it's not going to take the place of audi calls a we is what we know is a comet law for example. So he gives an example of he says like the word its meaning is to the mountain to the mountain but he doesn't say to which mountain he's just saying to they went to just a regular mountain leaving it open because each person because he's not telling you which mountain they went to. Each person was running away the survivors fled to a place wherever they found first. But when he puts a hey in the beginning like to the mountain or to the desert is explaining to the mountain to a mountain that he already told you which specific mountain. So the word is then telling me and announcing to the specific mountain that we know about. Let's say Mount Si or whatever mountain he may be referring to. And he's talking about a well-known mountain that's already been explained in the Torah reading verse 12. While these individuals, the four kings were taking and destroying everything that was there. One of the things that they also took was they the four kings took all the belongings of the people of Saddam. They took all their people that were there and all their provisions and they departed. Verse 12, Rashi verse verse 12. What another thing they did was when they left they took with them Aram's nephew who was and all his possessions. He was the nephew of the son of the brother of And they left. For who? Where was Lot living at the time? He was living in Sodom. So now the Torah is telling us that one of the things that the four kings did besides conquering the cities of Saddam, they also took lot who was living then in Saddam. What is over here? Rashi comes to tell us as well. Why does the Torah have to mention to us again that he was living in Sedon? telling us why was lo taken captive and all his possessions taken from him because what caused him all this because he went to sit with a bunch of evil people. He went to live with a bunch of no good nicks and this is what happened to him. Verse 13. And the sole survivor came and he told the Hebrew and that am. And at that time Aram was resting in the plains of Mamre. And who was the plains of Mam as well with the Amorite? Ahk, the brother of Eshk. Honor and the brother of Ener. and they were Aram's allies. So let's find out who this soul survivor is. Rashi verse 13 and the soul survivor. Why does he tell me the who's the special person? According to the simple interpretation, one can say this is somebody the person who survived many wars. This is OG that he was saved from the war of the four kings. That's why if you notice later on in the book of Deuteronomy that we mentioned earlier about the og was the only one the sole survivor from all the because went and killed all the only one that survived was survived. He was not killed and his friends when they went to kill the people of the like we just mentioned in a few verses earlier that they killed the that were and that's the way the medishum explains it gives another explanation of why og was called the sole survivor this is o but another reason why he was called the survivor that he was a survivor of the generation of the flood that while everybody besides Noah's family was killed was the only one that survived and this that it says later on from the leftovers of the not from the killed because it says at the time of the flood they were in the earth. What kind of neilm were the great giants? And he was hoping why would he come along and tell a lot was captured. He was hoping that now that Aram would go wage war against them. They are these big mighty kings and they would be killed and a would be killed and he will then marry Sarah. Why was he called the i? The word means that he came from the other side of the river which is the eastern side of the Euphrates. What does it mean? They were his uh allies. That they made a covenant with him. Another explanation means that later on we're going to see they're the ones that gave him good advice. He should do circumcision that everybody should know about it. I'm going to see at the end of the para when God told him about the brisma about the per point of taking a circumcision verse 14 heard that his brother that that his family member was taken captive he armed his 318 attendants the people who have been with him and born in his household which were numbered 318 and done and he seted up pursuit to loads captives following them all the way as far as the area of Dun Rashi. What does the word vayor mean? Like the tarum explains the zoris and he uh g armed them. He gave them arms that they should be able to fight. So too we find this the same similar terminology in the book of Leviticus that I will arm you with uh with swords as well. We have it in the book of Exodus when they talk about that God armed us with swords as well in the book of where he says also that you will be armed with a spear and to be able to wage war. What does the word mean? If you read it, the word can also be written one singular. This is alzar his servant who is called the one he educated that he educated him to observe the commandments. The word anytime you're going to word we know today means education but this also means dedication or renewal from the word as you know as well means the beginning of a person's entering of becoming part of a certain job or taking a certain position that he's eventually going to be taking like we find many other examples in the book of proverbs educate a child meaning that you have to get him used to doing a certain behavior so when he gets older he should not go astray. So do we find when they dedicated the holy temple and the altar they started doing the work on it so it should become accustomed with what was done on it when they start using a home in old French it's called in alzar was the one himself that waged war together with it was the two of them. So why does he say 318? Elzar numeric value of Elzar's name is 318. Elzar was as valuable as 318 men and that's where he went together with to chase them until done. Why did he stop by and not continue to chase him over there he was getting weak. He couldn't chase them any longer because he saw that in future generations the Jewish people will come to put a golden calf there caused him to be weak and he was not able to go continue to pursue them. Verse 15, he and his servants had divided themselves. [clears throat] So that they should be able to go into the night and they should be able to flee in different directions to capture the four kings and his servants. And he pursued them and attacked them and then pursued them until uh pursued them as far as a which is at the north of Damascus. That means they would later the word would later mean incur guilt which is north of Damascus. What that means we're soon going to see tells us verse 15. Rashi verse 15 as follows. What does it mean he split? According to simple interpretation, you have to add some words as the verse is missing and you have to move around the verse a little bit. The way you should read it is that he and his servants split when it came the night. Meaning that they chased after them just like people who were pursuing others that they split in different directions to chase them when each one's running in different directions. So you split up that they should all go in different ways. Rashi says once it got dark just because it got dark it didn't stop him from chasing them says without mixing the words of the verse puts it like this way that it was divided the night to two halves in the first part of the night that means to at that point two halves of the night that means two different miracles happened. First half of the night, he had a miracle happened to him now that he was able to be victorious over the kings in the second half of the night was already put aside for a later time which was going to be at the midnight which of God will kill all the firstborn of Egypt in the middle of midnight. Didn't the say before that he chased them until done and over here he says until the word There's no place that is called he is calling a place of which means guilt because of the terrible idolatry that happened later on the idolatry of yam that he put up calves that the Jewish people would then serve and avoid from going to the holy temple. That's why he calls it that they would be guilty for their sins that they've done at the time later on. Verse 16. And then he returned, he retrieved and returned all the belongings and also laid his relative and his belongings. He returned, he retrieved along with the women and the other people. Verse 17. The king of went out to greet him after returned from being victorious over and all the other kings of the other three kings that joined him to the plane where they were ach [clears throat] to the kings came to him to greet him in the open valley which the king which that was the king of Saddam's open sporting out rash. What does it mean? So there are two interpretations as we've [clears throat] learned to seek that's the name of the place explains to a place where there's an equal playing field. It's all playing field. There's no mountains in that area was open from any trees or from any stumbling blocks that any person may have there. What does it mean to it was a place where the kings used to have a place that they would grow which is a big area of land that they that each area was a measurement of about six amos. And this was a massive, if you want to call football field that the king had that the king had an open area, an open plane that he would hang out there and play there and so on. Explains. It was a place, the valley that all nations of the world came to one opinion. That means they all agreed about something. What was it? They all agreed that a should be the king on them to be to understand and appreciate to be a leader for them and as for a general as a leader to teach them what to do. They all agreed because he saved them. Verse 18, the king of whom this was brought out bread and wine who and he was also a priest of God. Who is Malit? And the medish tells us that unique individual. This individual Malit was med who shamed Ben. The medish tells us this was shame. The son of Noah was considered the cohen at the time. The bal mentions if you look at the word mel is an acronym for the word shalim I'm sorry is the word shalim is abbreviation of the word to tell you that this is shame the son of Noah. What did he give them? Why did he bring up bread and wine? This is what you do to the people who work hard at war that they come back because since they're starving, they're hungry and they're weak. So the bread and wine gives them back energy as well as he showed him that he has no qualms against the fact that he has no hatred towards him by the fact that he killed his children because who was the was the king of Alam and Alam was a child of shame as we saw before in chapter 10 verse 22. The med alludes to another thing. It says this was alluding on a fact on the future libations that would be brought meal offerings and on the libations that would be brought that his children would bring in a place called Shalim which is Jerusalem where the holy temple will be built. And as he comes out, he greets him and he blesses him and he says verse 19 and he blesses him and he says, "Blessed is before God the most of high the maker of heaven and earth." What is tells us means the maker of heaven and earth. How did he acquire it? Because he made it. He acquired it for it to be his. Verse 20. And blessed is the m blessed is the God most on high that delivered you from your enemies and protected you from your enemies from going into their hand. And at that moment and he delivered that he protected you from your enemies and he delivered them into your hands and at that point Aram then gave malit because he was the coain tithe of everything that Abraham Aram owned at the time. Rashi Rashi 20 it means that he protected you the same thing we find that it will protect the Jewish people who gave to who gave to 10% of whatever he had whatever he had why did he give him the Torah already told you the verse beforehand because he was a and he was the priest And that's who you give tithe to. So therefore, Abra gave tithe to the Cohen who was shame, the son of Noah. This concludes the fourth Torah reading of LLA.