פירוש על בראשית 13:9

אם השמאל ואימינה IF THOU WILT TAKE THE LEFT HAND, THAN I WILL GO TO THE RIGHT —Wherever you settle down I will not go far from you and I will stand by you as a shield and as a helper. Ultimately, indeed, he (Lot) was really in need of him, as it is said, (Genesis 14:14) “And Abram heard that his brother was taken captive etc.”

הלא כל הארץ לפניך, I’ll let you choose the area which you prefer.

הלא כל הארץ לפניך, you have the same options as I have, as no one will object to the area which we will choose to graze our herds on. G’d’s assistance will be at your side on my account, and on account of the fact that you had joined me on my search for the true Creator in order to come closer to Him.

I will not go far from you ... Rashi is answering the question: Avraham just said, “We are kinsmen.” Why does he now say, “If you go to the left, I will go to the right” — implying he wants to distance himself due to the hatred between them? Where did the hatred come from? There was no quarrel between them, [only between the shepherds]. Thus Rashi explains, “I will not go far from you...” [Alternatively,] Rashi explained this because the words seem superfluous, as it could have just said, “Please separate from me.” Therefore Rashi explains: “I will not go far...” And if you ask why Avraham needed to promise this to Lot, Rashi answers: [To tell him that] “I will stand by you as a shield.” (R. Yaakov Kenizal) Rashi is answering the question: If Lot goes to the left, Avraham will obviously be on his right! [Why did the verse need to state this?] Thus Rashi explains: Avraham will actually stay near him by his right. He will not distance himself. (R. Shmuel El Mashonino)

מעלי, vom Neben-mir-sein. Ganz von einander geschieden. Das musste Abraham fordern, um die Seinigen vor dem Beispiel der Lotwirtschaft zu schützen. Siehe! Ich bin beschränkt, kann nicht überall hingehen, wo Überfluss ist, muß mich isolieren, du aber, nachdem du dich von meiner Lebensanschauung losgesagt, brauchst ja nicht so wählerisch zu sein, dir ist das ganze Land offen. Gehe du nach rechts oder links, ich werde hier in meiner Isolierung verharren. — Die Etymologie von ימין und שמאל ist dunkel. Vielleicht ist ימן verwandt mit מכמנים ,כמן verborgener Schatz, die verborgene Schatzkammer der Kräfte des Menschen, diejenige Seite, in welcher des Menschen vorzügliche Kraft ruht. Während שמאל, (verwandt mit שמלה, das Gewand, die Hülle), die Linke als die Gehülfin der Rechten bedeutet, die mehr dem von der Rechten gelieferten Kern die Hülle bietet (?).

ואימינה I WILL GO TO THE RIGHT — The word means “I will direct myself towards the right”, just as ואשמאילה means “I will direct myself towards the left.” If you say that it should be punctuated וְאַיְמִינָה (the regular Hiphil form) I answer that in another place also we find this form, (2 Samuel 14:19) אם יש לְהֵמִין “none can turn to the right hand”, where the punctuation is not לְהַיְמִין.

Therefore, הפרד נא מעלי, move away from me in the direction you prefer and I will move in the opposite direction. If you select grazing land to the left, I will select grazing land to the right.

הפרד נאת, from me; seeing that you are in this country on my account and not vice versa, it is up to you to move away. It is not my duty to move away from you and abandon this land to you. Avram considered himself as the principal and his nephew as a mere follower, so that the choice of who would go where was his. He added, that seeing he was a generous person, all the more so when the other person involved was his brother, he therefore offered the choice to Lot.

אם השמאל ואימינה ואם הימין ואשמאילה, what he meant was “if you will move north I will be south of you, whereas if you move south, I will be north of you, in the very location that I am now, which was in the south of the country as we know from 12,9 and 13,3.

ואם הימין, if you prefer to remain here, i.e. in the south, I will be forced to move north from here.