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Proclaiming the greatness of Hashem[1]
ויאמר אברם אל-מלך סדם הרמתי ידי אל-יקוק קל עליון קנה שמים וארץ: אם-מחוט ועד שרוך-נעל ואם-אקח מכל-אשר-לך ולא תאמר אני העשרתי את-אברם
Avram said to the king of Sedom: “I raise my hand to Hashem, the Supernal G-d, the Owner of Heaven and Earth. I will take neither a string nor a shoe strap, nor anything that is yours, so you will not say that I made Avram rich”[2]
Avraham heroically rescued his nephew Lot who was kidnapped by the mightiest kings of the time. Simultaneously, Avraham rescued the king of Sedom. The king offered Avraham the spoils of the war, but Avraham vehemently refused. He announced he wouldn’t even take a string or a shoe strap from the spoils. Our Sages teach us[3] that in the merit of this proclamation, his children merited the mitzvah of the string of techeiles on their tzitzis, and the mitzvah of the strap of tefillin. How can we understand the midah k’neged midah, the measure for measure of this reward? Meaning, why did Hashem find these mitzvos to be an appropriate response to this act of piety? Rashi clarifies[4] that part of the merit was that Avraham didn’t want to benefit from theft, but what theft was there here? Avraham was the victor of the battle…
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