Parshas Lech Lecha

Rabbi Hillel Brody

In Sefer K’vod Shomayim, the Chofetz Chaim urges the reader to consider the immense reward which comes to one who chooses silence instead of causing problems through speech. As proof, he points to Lot, the nephew and erstwhile traveling companion of Avraham Avinu. When Avraham went to Mitzrayim, he told the border officials that Sarah was his sister. Lot had the opportunity to correct the officials’ misperception, but he was silent. Rashi, in next week’s parsha (19:29) quotes the Medrash that in this (seemingly minor) merit, he was saved from the destruction of Sedom. Even more significantly, the Chofetz Chaim cites Rashi in Devarim (2:5) that in this merit, Lot, not a particularly deserving person, was given the eternal status of a child of Avraham, and inherited a portion of Eretz Yisroel.