The Cupboard Was Bare
After traveling for a very long time, they finally made it to the Land of Israel (then known as the Land of Cana’an). “Great! We finally arrived to the place HaShem told us to go!” they all proclaimed.
Yet, it was not so great after all. A terrible HUNGER came upon the land. The rain stopped falling. Drought set in, crops stopped growing, and fruit trees stopped blossoming.
The people began to get hungry, but there was no food to be found. There wasn’t a crumb of bread in the breadbox. People were waiting in line at the stores, but the shelves were bare.
But did Avram complain? Did he say, “Oy! Why has HaShem brought me to this land? To starve me and my family?” NO! With calm faith, he said to Sarai, “I hear that Egypt has plenty of food. Let’s go down there.”
Avram’s only regret was that he and Sarai would not be able to fulfill the Mitzvah of inviting guests while in Egypt. Well, there was no time to think about that. They had no choice but to head down south to Egypt to find food. AND THE SOONER THE BETTER!
Crossing the Border
Sarai was very beautiful, and Avram feared that when the Egyptian border officials saw her, they would want to kill Avram so that they could take Sarai to be King Paraoh’s wife.
Avram had an idea. He put Sarai in a big box, in order to smuggle her through the border without anyone noticing her. But as a backup plan, he told Sarai that if the officials did discover her, she should say that she is Avram’s sister. That way, at least they would not kill Avram.
Avram and Lot approached the border, with Sarai in the box. The customs officials noticed the strange box and said, “Hey, what’s in the box?” Avram was forced to open it.
When the officials saw Sarai, they were struck by her beauty. Immediately, they sent a messenger to Paraoh, letting him know that this beautiful woman “fit for a king” had arrived with her brother. Paraoh sent back an urgent message – “Send me Sarai now!”
At the Palace
At the palace, after taking one look at Sarai, the king declared, “You will become my wife.”
“There is no way that I can marry you,” Sarai responded. “I am already married! Take me back to Avram… PLEASE! I’m begging you!”
But Paraoh didn’t listen.
Sarai prayed to HaShem to protect her. HaShem answered her prayer, and sent 10 terrible plagues on Paraoh. (Did you know that the 10 plagues in the Passover story weren’t the first ones?)
The plagues made Paraoh realize that Sarai was indeed a righteous woman, a Tzadekes, who could not be harmed because HaShem was watching over her. Paraoh said, “Quickly! Get Sarai out of here! NOW!”
Paraoh was so amazed by the greatness of Sarai and Avram that he even sent along with them his very own daughter Hagar to be their maidservant! Paraoh declares, “Better a servant with Sarai than a Princess in Egypt.”
Your Way… My Way
Both Avram and his nephew, Lot, had large flocks of sheep and hired shepherds to take care of them. Avram would warn his shepherds, “Be very careful. Whenever my sheep go into other people’s fields, make sure they are muzzled – their mouths are covered – so they won’t eat grass that doesn’t belong to them.” Lot, on the other hand, didn’t care about that and his sheep grazed in other people’s fields.
One day, an argument broke out. As usual, Lot’s sheep were grazing in other people’s fields. “It’s stealing!” cried out Avram’s shepherds. “No, it’s not! Avram does not have any children, so actually all of his land will be ours soon enough! Ha, ha, ha!” responded the wicked shepherds of Lot.
The fighting bothered Avram. So he went over to Lot and pleaded with him, “Listen, Lot. We are relatives. People will think that we can’t live peacefully together. I have a very good idea. Let’s go our separate ways. You go one way, and I’ll go the opposite direction… and you get first choice.”
Lot agreed to this. He chose to head east and settled in the city of Sodom, which seemed to have a lot going for it. It was on the bank of a river, and it had beautiful, green pasture land.
Unfortunately, there was one major downside to Sodom. The people who lived there were the worst in all of Cana’an. They were robbers and murderers! But Lot didn’t care, as long as he would be able to make a lot of money there.
The Great Blessing
After Lot left him, Avram heard HaShem’s voice: “Avram, look all around you. As far as you can see, in every direction – north, south, east, and west – I will give this land to you and your children and your children’s children. Can you count the dust of the earth? Your descendants will be as numerous as there are specks of dust in the entire world!”
Avram Rescues Lot
Did Avram hold a grudge against Lot who gave him so many problems? Of course not! Avram, the great Tzaddik (righteous person), put together an entire army and even risked his life in order to save Lot!
Here is the story:
In those days there were kings who often fought each other in order to conquer more and more land. In one of these battles, 5 kings, including King Bera of Sodom, fought against four other kings, led by King Kedarla’omer. After many years of fighting the four kings won against the 5 kings. The winners took much property and money from Sodom, as well as many prisoners. One of those prisoners was Lot, Avram’s nephew.
Avram heard of Lot’s troubles and knew he had to help. Remember… after Haran, Lot’s father risked his life to believe in HaShem – he was thrown by Nimrod in the furnace – Avram resolved to take care of his orphaned nephew. Without hesitating, he put together a small army of 318 men and prepared for a big fight.
Kedarla’omer had an army of thousands of men, and as Avram’s little army crept closer to them that night, they were pretty scared.
“Take a look at those mighty warriors! We’ll never beat them! We’re finished, Kaput… It’s a total disaster!”
But Avram was not frightened at all. The few fought against many and they miraculously won. When Avram’s men picked up sand and threw it against Kedarla’omer’s army, the sand turned into swords and daggers! And in turn, when Kedarla’omer’s soldiers threw their ammunition at Avram’s army, their swords and daggers turned into harmless sand!
“It’s incredible! Let’s get outta here!” they cried out, as Kedarla’omer’s army made a quick U-turn.
Negotiations
The king of Sodom hurried to plead with Avram, “You can keep all the money and possessions you fought for. They are rightfully yours. However, I am begging you, please give me back my people you captured!”
Avram declared to the king of Sodom, “Take your people back and I want none of your belongings – not even a single thread or a shoelace. HaShem has blessed me with great wealth. Let no man say that the king of Sodom has made Avram rich.”
“But come to think of it,” continued Avram, “As a token of gratitude to HaShem, give one tenth of the money to Malki-Tsedek, for he is a Kohen (priest) to HaShem.”
Countless Blessings
After winning the great war against the four kings, Avram got very worried. “Perhaps by winning this war I used up all my reward in store for me,” he thought to himself.
HaShem came to Avram in a dream and promised him, “Avram. Do not worry! Indeed, you will have much reward. You will have a son. And not only that,” HaShem continued, “you will also have countless descendants. Look up at the sky. Can you count the stars? Your offspring will be as many as the stars in heaven.”
HaShem also promised Avram that his children would inherit the entire land of Cana’an, later to be known as Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel.
New Wife, New Son…
Avram indeed believed all that HaShem promised, yet 10 years had already passed since they moved to Cana’an and still Sarai had no children. Something had to be done. Sarai came up with an idea. “Avram, please marry Hagar, my Egyptian servant. She is the daughter of the mighty Paraoh and a very respected person. Surely HaShem will help and you will be able to bear a child from her.”
Avram listened to his wife Sarai and indeed married Hagar. Within a very short time Hagar was expecting a baby! Hagar was not sensitive at all and would tease Sarai in a sing-song voice, “I’m going to have a baby, and you’re not!” Sarai realized that it had been her idea for Avram to marry her servant. Still, the way Hagar was speaking to her was really hurting her and she went to complain to her husband.
Avram left it up to Sarai to decide what to do. Sarai made life so unpleasant for Hagar that she ran away to the desert. But HaShem sent an angel to command her to return to Sarai. The angel also told Hagar a few more interesting things: she would have a son, and his name would be Yishmael, and he would be a wild man who would be the forefather of a large nation.
Hagar listened to the angel, went back to Sarai and had a child who was named Yishmael.
Give Me a “Hey”!
13 years after his son Yishmael was born, when Avram was 99 years old, HaShem said to him, “I will make a covenant between us. I will make you the father of many nations and from now on, your name will no longer be Avram. It is Avraham, meaning the father of many. I will be your G-d and the G-d of all of your descendants forever and ever!”
Then HaShem commanded Avraham to circumcise himself (called a Bris Milah), as a sign of the covenant between them. He also commanded Avraham to pass on the covenant of circumcision to every Jewish male at the age of 8 days old.
There was still more news! Sarai got a new name, too – Sarah. And HaShem promised that Sarah would have a son. Now this made Avraham laugh with joy! After all, he was almost 100 years old and Sarah was 90!
HaShem told Avraham that his son’s name would be Yitzchak, meaning “he will laugh.”
