A New Promise After Lot Leaves...

Torah Study 1/16
Genesis 13: 12-18

Lot and Avram part ways. Lot chooses greed over morality.

v13 – Sodom- a fertile land that Lot chooses. Inhabitants are ‘wicked’ and ‘sinners’ - a redundancy -
No details at this point on how they were wicked or sinning.
the curse, "May [his / her] name and memory be obliterated," (Hebrew: ימח שמו וזכרו , yimach shmo ve-zichro)

As opposed to:
Z”L - zikhrono livrakha זיכרונו לברכה of blessed memory; or
may his/her memory be for blessing

Rashi on the redundancy: Wicked – with body – adultry – man lies with another man’s wife.
Sin – with money – stingy – not give to the poor – greed.

(Sodomy – not from the Bible – no mention of homosexuality in relation to the place of Sodom)

Book Review: Elizabeth Gilbert - Committed

Al Het – the word for sin = “miss the mark”

Hassidic interpretation: Ezekiel on Sodom (book)
Sinners (pride and idleness) before God – cruelty to other people.

Even if someone seems pious on the outside they may be a sinner before God.

V14 – After Lot leaves – God speaks to Avram.
“Lift your eyes” and a reconfirmation of the promise not that Avram is cut off from his past and his family.

Avram waits for God to ask.

Samson R. Hirsch – Writes about this in reference to his own time.
Don't be seduced by the material wealth. Speaking to people who were assimilating with the German society.

The Divine promise is renewed – the land given to him and his offspring.

This is problematic as you ‘cant take land’ but we have a responsibility to care for the land.

Nachum Sarna - It was not about ‘ownership’ – it is about ‘home’ and where we are from.

“Dust of the Earth” (interesting website)
Dust endures forever – we are everywhere as dust is.
Blessed with water:
Water = Torah
Dust outlives people.

Paul Resnikoff poem:

Ownership of land commentaries:
Eretz Yisrael in the Parashah (Hardcover) By: Moshe D. Lichtman

Oct 7 2000 – Tomb of Joseph desecrated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph%27s_Tomb

Question: Why does the Bible start with Genesis?
To give the background about the land.