Not quite the example
While well written, Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn’s thesis that Parshat Lech Lecha supports the idea of land for peace (“Parshat Lech Lecha: Modern conflicts and an ancient text,” Observations, October 27), the piece is historically and conceptually flawed.
Rabbi Korn recounts the biblical story of Abraham and his nephew, Lot, quarreling when they arrived in the Land of Canaan, and Abraham’s suggestion that they separate and choose different parts of the country for grazing their herds. He cities Rashi’s explanation that the quarrel was based on Abraham’s moral objections to Lot grazing his cattle on land belonging to local residents, and then argues that Abraham was willing to divide the very land that God had promised him – which he knew was indisputably his – for the sake of peace.
This is presented as the biblical “land for peace” precedent.
A reading of the entire Rashi sentence that Rabbi Korn cites, rather than just the excerpted snippet, shows something other – that Abraham considered Lot a thief because the grazing land he had appropriated was not his. While it had been promised to Abraham for the future, as of then, it was legally the property of the resident Canaanite tribes.
Abraham and Lot were at the time two itinerant nomadic shepherds who had arrived in a foreign country ruled by legitimate local powers. Abraham simply devised a practical arrangement to prevent further confrontation. He was not “dividing” the land with Lot since the land did not belong to him. It is thus very clear that Abraham’s offer was not an instance of “land for peace,” as one cannot give away what one does not own.
Equating the Abraham-Lot interaction to our current situation, furthermore, is inappropriate. Abraham actually risked his life to save Lot. Lot was Abraham’s nephew, not his enemy. Lot was not determined to displace – let alone obliterate – Abraham. Since Abraham was childless at the time, he, in all likelihood, believed that Lot would be the beneficiary of the land God had promised him. Notably, after he and Lot separated, God made sure to tell him that the promised land would go to his direct descendants – not to Lot.
If one is inclined to search for biblical precedent for our current political situation, one might instead focus on the narrative of the various encounters during the Israelite conquest of Canaan. The pervasive stance is pointedly inconsistent with “land for peace.” ESTHER JUNI Jerusalem