Friday, 15 November 2019

Miller's Musings Parshas Vayero: Don't Miss All The Good Bits


Bs'd


This week’s Miller’s Musings is sponsored     
לעילוי נשמת
נפתלי מאיר בן הרב בנימין דוב
 and in honour of the coming of Moshiach, may it come speedily in our days!


Miller’s Musings
ויראפרשת 
Don’t Miss All The Good Bits

If there was ever a man of contradictions, it was surely Lot.  Sent away by Avrohom, due to his polluting influence, he chose Sodom, a place reeking with malice and impurity.  Not only did he assimilate among the natives there, but he rose in power in his newfound home and became their judge.  And yet regardless of this, we see him display huge self-sacrifice and altruism, when he risks his life to shelter guests.  In a place where such behaviour incurred the death penalty, this feat of selflessness and courage stands distinctly incongruous to all we know of him.  And when he willingly offers his own daughters in exchange for the guests’ lives, we once again starkly see the incompatible and paradoxical nature of his conduct. How can we understand this?
                                                                                                                                                                                                       
In spite of our portrayal of Lot as a deeply perplexing individual of multiple inconsistencies, the truth is actually far more explicable.  Every person is the sum total of many parts; the innate attributes of their unique soul, the impact of their parents and the effect of their surrounding environment.  Lot was no different and in many ways was a hugely flawed personality.  It was not by coincidence that he simultaneously left perhaps the greatest human being that ever lived and entered a place doomed for ruin.  But having lived a major period of his life close to Avrohom, it was impossible that some of his virtue would not have affected Lot.  It was this exposure, says the Dorash Dovid, to a giant of kindness, empathy and true love for all others, that ultimately impacted on Lot to create this part of his makeup.  Residing with Avrohom, witnessing his benevolence, taking part in his giving and seeing the humanity a person could possess, shaped Lot, perhaps despite himself.  And, on occasion, it gave him that ability and urge, to do whatever was necessary for the good of another. 
                                                                                                                                                                                                   
How do we feel about ourselves?  I would imagine that each one of us has traits that we would rather we didn’t possess.  Traits that we struggle with but don’t seem to be able to purge from our life.  Perhaps we view them with shame, frustration and something bordering on despondency.  The key message that we can take from what we have said is to recognise that just because we fail in one area, even repeatedly so, this does not define who we are.  We are complex beings, composed of a myriad of different influences and inborn qualities.  Each one of our facets must be viewed individually and reacted to as such.  This is of course not to say that we can resign one area to being an unmitigated failure that can be abandoned.  We must strive all our lives to develop and correct every part of who we are.  But when we fail and perhaps fail badly, and that failure disappoints us once again. We must know that there is more to us than this one defeat.  There are so many times when we do succeed and we are triumphant.  If we look with care we will see there is far more good within us than perhaps even we realise.  Good that does express our true selves. 

*May this Shabbos shine a light on all the good that we are*
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