Lech Lecha - Help is NOT a four-letter word

When Avraham Avenu is notified that his nephew Lote has been taken captive by an unholy alliance of four powerful kings, he immediately springs into action. Mustering all the forces at his disposal, he and his band of 318 well-meaning but certainly out-muscled and grossly outnumbered combatants confidently pursue the brazen attackers/kidnappers. With Hashem at his side, Avraham Avenu miraculously defeats this vast army and rescues Lote.

At least one glaring question from the above incident is why specifically the number 318. Most commentaries say this refers to Eliezer, Avraham Avenu's loyal servant and student, whose name is numerically 318. There are different opinions as to whether this means he only took Eliezer, whose spiritual and physical value (he was the son of the warrior king Nimrod) was equal to 318 people or whether there actually were a brigade of 318 plus Eliezer, or whether 318 men set out but after weeding out the weak-hearted and spirtually-deficient only Eliezer remained.

A few observations:

1 - As seemingly impetuous as Avraham Avenu acted, he certainly did not believe that there was any natural way he could have hoped to achieve victory here. His only chance was to enlist Hashem's support. Eliezer in Hebrew is Aleph Lamed (Hashem's name for kindness) - Yud Ayin Zayin Raish (Ya'Azor = will help)

2 - But how was Avraham Avenu going to get that help? As any card-carrying Breslover will tell you; Hisbodidus. 318 is gematriya Siyach which means talking/prayer (just like it says by Yitzchak Avenu, Vayatze Yitzchak LaSucah BaSadeh).

3 - How did Eliezer come to embody all these lofty concepts? As I mentioned Chazal tell us that he was Nimrod's son. Nimrod was the ruler of the world. Certainly Eliezer could have had untold wealth and glory had he stayed by daddy. Instead he forfeited all that physicality to become Eved Avraham, because he recognized truth and what was truly important.

Much like R. Nasan z"l negated himself so absolutely before Rabbenu z"l, so too did Eliezer negate himself before Avraham Avenu. And just like it was that conduct that enabled R. Nasan z"l to absorb Rabbenu z"l teachings and dole it out to others, so too this was how Eliezer was able to assist Avraham Avenu in spreading faith in Hashem to so desolate a generation.

There is an expression that describes the relationship or ratio of knowledge possessed by the student in comparison to his mentor - Mar M'dli. This refers to the fact that if the Rabbi's knowledge can be compared to a pail full of water, what the student gleans from his Rabbi is merely the moist residue left in the pail after it has been completely emptied out (of course therein lies the secret of the student's success). Eliezer (plus the 6 letters of his name) is gematriya Mar M'dli.

May we all merit knowing what is truly important and to pursue and persevere until we achieve it

Good Shabbos

Steve