What Causes Jews to Divide and Separate, Lot & Avraham
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5773
For more than 2000 years Jews have been divided and separated for two primary reasons. At times an external enemy causes Jews to have to flee and separation ensues. Sometimes the enemy is directly responsible for the separation.
Other times our divide and separation has nothing to do with anyone or anything external. We do it to ourselves, we are our own worst enemy and usually it revolves around religion. That which is supposed to unite and bind us is actually what causes the divide.
It is always fascinating to see commentators read these historical realities into the text.
In this morning’s parsha we read of the separation of Avraham and Lot.
6. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might live together; for their possessions were great, so that they could not live together.
Their respective shepherds have a fight and they agree to part ways in order to avoid continual fighting.
Although the text seems to give us the reason for the conflict it is not at all clear. Was it really true that there was enough land? If yes, then why add the details about the fight of the shepherds? If the land is insufficient, then they must split!
The commentators present different options to explain the first separation of the Jewish family.
Rashi writes that there was not enough land for both herds of cattle. So Lot’s shepherds took his flock into neighboring lands. Avraham’s shepherds, following in the righteous ways of their master rebuked Lots shepherds for stealing. They responded that it was not stealing as Avraham had no heirs, thus Lot would inherit him and all of the land promised to Avraham would eventually be Lot’s and thus this is not stealing.
The Ramban rejects this approach because he does not believe that anyone would think that they could steal something which might be theirs generations in the future.
He suggests that they separated because if they continued to live together the other inhabitants of the land would notice how wealthy they were and would banish them from the land or kill them and take their possessions.
According to Rashi the split was a result of religious infighting.
According to the Ramban, the split was caused by fear of the external enemy.
Finding the two roots causes of Jewish dispersion and separation read into the text by Rashi and Ramban respectively captured my attention.
Now I want to turn our attention to a textual question. Who do you think is right? What were they really fighting about? In answering this question we will get to examine our approach to Midrash and hopefully gain some appreciation into its method and beauty.
When I first learned this Midrash as a kid my first reaction was- really? Was that really what they were fighting about? And how did the authors know?
If you can’t answer those questions you veer towards another answer simply because you have dismissed the Midrash.
That would be a terrible shame because I think that the Midrash here has a lot going for it.
Firstly, it explains both pieces in the text. It works the lack of land and the shepherds fight into the story. According to Ramban, they split because they were afraid of the other people. The Shepherds fight has nothing to do with the split and the Ramban does not explain why it is there.
More importantly the larger context of the story seems to support Rashi as well.
The chapter opens with the journey up from Egypt and the Torah tells us that Avraham came up with his wife and stuff and Lot came along as well. And Avraham was laden with cattle, silver and gold.
What about Lot? What does he have? 3 verses later we are told that Lot also had sheep, cattle and tents. And then the land can’t hold them and they fight and split.
That basically is the story. They are travelling together and settle together and each has possessions etc.
Except that I left out 2 verses. Between the description of Avraham’s wealth and Lots wealth you find the following.
3. And he went on his journeys from the Negev to Beth-El, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-El and Hai;
4. To the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
What is that doing smack in the middle of our story? That is a good question. I would suggest that the Midrash picked up on this question and was trying to answer it as well.
According to the Midrash the Torah is telling us that Avraham had possessions and a sense of faith in God and a desire to proclaim God’s name in the world.
Lot simply has possessions. We are not told that he too called out in God’s name.
That is the difference between Avraham and Lot and that leads to their fight.
That is exactly the message of the Midrash. The rabbis present us with a possible scenario of the fight. It is not terribly important if that was the exact fight as much as the fact that they were having a religious fight connected to their belongings. How does the Midrash know that? From the insertion of the details of Abraham’s religious activities into middle of our story, and the description of their respective wealth.
Lot’s choice of Sedom, the embodiment of evil supports the midrash’ read as well.
There is another advantage to this approach as well. Maybe it holds the key to how we should interact with Jews when there is that religious split.
Avraham suggests that they separate so that they will not fight. He does not agree with Lot’s choice and yet he still does not want to fight. And he very much still cares for Lot, evidenced by his rescue of Lot when Lot is taken captive.
That seems to be the right approach with the denominations of Judaism today. Orthodoxy does not agree with the religious approach of the other denominations. There are critical areas of difference that create a real schism. And thus there is a certain level of separation that is necessary. But that separation must be with a resolve to diminish animosity and we must always care for members of our Jewish family no matter how great the divide.
