<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16705" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document
face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>From: Cantor Wolberg
<cantorwolberg@cox.net><BR>>>....when his wife was being
threatened to be violated by Pharoah and his men, <BR>Avraham did
virtually nothing except act meekly. Suddenly when it came <BR>to Lot he
found his boldness....Anyone have a good reasonable
explanation?<<<BR><BR>>>>>><BR>I have two tentative
explanations, one natural and one "cosmic."</FONT></DIV><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Natural: an army strategist knows that you have to play the hand
you're dealt. In the case of Lot, an army of 318 men -- perhaps allied
with the remnants of the defeated five kings' armies -- could reasonably expect
to be able to get into the enemy camp and rescue hostages. Avraham
was also in his own country, on his own turf. In the case of Egypt,
there was no way Avraham could have defeated the entire might of the Egyptian
army, so he had to use subterfuge and wiles instead of brute force. One
consideration that he had was that if he died, then Sarah would have /no one/ to
protect her, so it was definitely in her interest for him to remain alive long
enough to figure out a way to save her and get them both out of Egypt.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Cosmic: ma'asei avos siman labanim. Consciously or
unconsciously, Avraham's actions prophetically foreshadowed events that would
occur later in Jewish history. His victory in the war of the four kings vs
the five kings foreshadowed Jewish conquest of Eretz Yisrael. His need to
go "underground" in Egypt foreshadowed Yosef in Egypt and his leaving Egypt at
the urging of Pharoah, laden with riches, foreshadowed Yetzias Mitzraim.
Sarah's being at the mercy of the Egyptians and yet remaining untouched
foreshadowed the purity of the women in Egypt who all (except for one sole
exception, Shlomis bas Divri) maintained their purity and their family lineage
throughout all the years of slavery. She was also a captive --
foreshadowing Jewish slavery -- and she was also in the king's palace --
foreshadowing Moshe being raised in the palace. (All the above is
admittedly somewhat speculative, based loosely on
Rashi.)<BR></DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============<BR><BR></B><BR></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV CLASS="aol_ad_footer" ID="e8821588603f76f21971413d908698cc"><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">AOL Search: Your one stop for directions, recipes and all other Holiday needs. <a href="http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212792382x1200798498/aol?redir=http://searchblog.aol.com/2008/11/04/happy-holidays-from-aol-search/?ncid=emlcntussear00000001
">Search Now</a>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>