“Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Yarden; and Lot journeyed east; and they separated themselves one from the other.” (Bereishis 13:11)

RASHI:  FROM THE EAST: A Midrashic explanation is: He wandered away from the Originator (מקדמונו) of the Universe, saying, “I want neither Abram nor his G-d” (Genesis Rabbah 41:7).

There is a famous question which I first heard from the mashgiach of Lakewood, Rav Mattisyahu Solomon (may he have a refuah shelayma): The snake was cursed with eating the dust, which seems a bit strange because as we all know, one can find dust wherever one goes. What kind of curse is it to find your food supply in abundance everywhere?

I would like to share an incident with you that happened many years ago when I was living in the Ezras Torah neighborhood of Jerusalem. There was a man who was in a car accident and became temporarily crippled from the accident, but over a period of time he recovered: After about a half year, he was able to move around in a wheelchair; then he moved up to walker; and then he improved to the point of being on crutches; and one day I saw him greeting a friend of his while he was standing on his own! His friend marveled at the sight and said, “In the morning, you probably have a great deal of kavana when you make the brocho ‘zokef kefufim’!” I interjected and said to the friend, “And what about you?” To which he responded, “What about me, what?” But after a moment he understood that I meant that one does not need to be incapacitated to be able to thank Hashem for the ability to walk. What happens to most people is that we tend to take things for granted, forgetting that there is a supplier on the other side: Our father in Heaven, Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Those bumps in life are there to remind us that there is a relationship that we must not forget about.

We find ourselves in a difficult situation, but I think we all understand that without the grace of Hashem, we cannot extricate ourselves from our position. Those who think that we can rely on our salvation coming from the Israeli Defense Forces, remind me of an incident of some 15 years ago. I asked a small boy what he davens for on Rosh Hashanah. He said, “To get good marks in school, and to be healthy.” I asked him back, “What about getting food to eat?” He looked at me in shock and said, “I am not worried about that! I get that from my ABA!” It didn’t take long for me to explain to that child that his Aba needs to get that food from some place too.

I would like to mention a test that we all undergo which requires chizuk. It is easy to say Tehillim for a week; possibly even for two weeks. But as this effort drags on, we tend to shy away from saying Tehillim with “desperation.” Not only that, but we tend to see the situation as not as urgent as we saw it only a short while ago. This is the work of the Yetzer Hara.

In our source verse, Rashi explains that Lot did not want anything to do with Avraham or his G-d. How did Rashi know that? I once saw an explanation that it was because he moved to a place that did not need rain, as the previous verse tells us, “The plains of Sodom were naturally irrigated.” He did not want to live in a place which required an ongoing relationship with G-d. So too with the snake. The biggest curse is Hashem saying, “take all your food and leave Me alone!” On the other hand, when Hashem gave the mon in the desert, out of his love for the Bnei Yisrael the people had to leave their tents daily to gather their food, and therefore maintain their relationship with G-d.

Those of us who come from outside of Israel, by and large grew up with the idea that rain is just a bother that should go away. After living here in Eretz Yisrael for a period of time, I think we appreciate every drop as we pray for rain for real. Let our prayers for rain be like one who is begging his father for help. The urgency should not only be for Hashem’s showering his blessings upon us in the agricultural field, but it should also be for our security, because only our Father in Heaven can help us with all of it. If we spend the time contemplating this, we will all reach this realization.