Hot Works Presents Orchard Lake Fine Art Show TORAH PORTION July 24-26, 2009 Reward Suit Task Shabbat Hazon (Parshat Devarim): Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22; Isaiah 1:1-27. I n the fifth book of the Torah, Deuteronomy, Moses prepares the Jewish nation for their entry into the promised land. In the course of his words, he recounts the events that trans- pired over the last 40 years as the people journeyed through the desert. "And God said to me, do not incite war with Moav, for I will not give you of their land; it is an inheritance to the children of Lot." (Deuteronomy, 2:9) Similarly, in verse 19 He says, "You are nearing the border of Amon; do not bother them and do not incite war with them, for I will not give you of their land; it is an inheri- tance to the children of Lot." What merit did Lot have that God gave his children Amon and Moav these lands as an inheritance? The Midrash explains: "When Abraham was forced by famine to go down to Egypt, he said that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife. He was afraid that if they knew she was his wife, they would kill him in order to give her to the king as a wife. Lot knew very well that Sarah was not Abraham's sister, but remained silent and did not reveal the secret. It was for this silence that God rewarded him, by saving him from the destruction of the city of Sodom and then again by giving his children an inheritance of land never to be taken away from them." This explanation seems very peculiar. Why would God reward him for such a small, insignificant act rather than for the great sacrifice that Lot made when the angels, in the form of men, came to visit him? In that case, Lot put himself in danger by having guests in a city where guests were forbidden under penalty of death! When the townsfolk came to demand the guests, Lot put forth tremendous efforts to protect them! Why was there no reward for these heroic acts? Based on this, our sages teach us a very important lesson. We know that Lot had a very strong desire for money. This was evident when the angels had to force him to leave Sodom, a city about to be destroyed because he could not part with his material possessions. When Lot followed Abraham to Egypt, it was solely Nvith the intention that as the sole heir to his fortune he would inherit all of Abraham's immense wealth upon his passing. To this end, it was in Lot's best inter- ests to reveal that Sarah was Abraham's wife so that Abraham would be killed and he would inherit his wealth. Additionally, having pro- vided the king was such a beautiful wife would also have netted Lot a tremen- dous reward. Therefore, not revealing Sarah's true identity was an extremely difficult test for Lot. Abstaining from doing so required great effort on Lot's part and deserved being rewarded. Our sages teach us that reward is commensurate with the difficulty of the task. The more difficult the task, the more reward. Thus, a person is worthy of reward only when he does something difficult, that goes against his nature. A great rabbi once asked his student the following question: If you have five burning candles and you extinguish two of them, how many are left? The student did not know what to answer. Of course the rabbi knew simple math. After a short while the rabbi answered. Two are left, for the three that remained lit burned down to nothing. It is those fires that we extinguish within ourselves that makes us great. It is through overcoming the difficult tasks that we grow. I fort-k- (ixi9 ,- 17. I whet c 39,?c, brcas.orms cycriccr if enc 4 9rcartate.4. arL iI 175 award winning artists on the beautiful lakeside grounds of the Orchard Lake Schools • 3535 Indian Trail. Orchard Lake, Michigan 48324 FREE ADMISSION - Saturday 10-7, Sunday 10-5 Free Live Entertainment • Great beverages and food Interactive Demonstrations • More! e- Youth Art Competition for grades K-8 • Children's Art Activities 0 - • it the top 100 art shows in the country two years in a row! Winner of three awards from 2008 Michigan Festivals & Events. www.HotWorks.org New this year. North Oakland County Art Festiva August 1416 at Otde World Canterbury Village, Lake Orion,. Avraham Cohen is director of the Weiss Family Partners in Torah of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in Southfield.