If a Portion of His Property Is Withheld from Him

"And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel" (Genesis 14:1). Let our master teach us: One who writes over all his property to his slave as a gift, does he go free? Thus our Rabbis taught: One who writes over all his property to his slave, he goes free; but if he reserved any land whatsoever, he does not go free. Rabbi Shimon says: He is in any case a freeman, unless the master says, "All my property is given to so-and-so my slave except for one item among them." There was an incident concerning a certain man who went to a country across the sea, and he had one son sitting and occupying himself with Torah in the Land of Israel. When the time of his death drew near, he wrote over all his property as a gift to his slave, and he wrote for his son that he might choose for himself one item out of all his property that he had given as a gift to his slave. When he died, the slave gathered up all the wealth and took it together with the deed of gift and came to the Land of Israel and said to the son: Your father has died, and he has written me a will of all his property, on condition only that you choose for yourself one item out of all of it. What did the son do? He went to his teacher and recounted the matter to him. His teacher said to him: Your father was a great sage and expert in the laws. He said: If I leave all my property in the hand of my slave, he will steal it and lose it; rather, I will write it over to him as a gift, so that he will be careful with it, and let my son choose for himself one item out of all of it. Now, when you go with him to the court and he produces that will, say before the court: My masters, thus my father commanded, that I choose for myself one item out of all; I desire nothing in the world except this slave. Then you will acquire the property and the slave. He did so. The court delivered into his hand the property and the slave, for a slave who acquired property, the slave and the property belong to his master. And Solomon said (Ecclesiastes 2:26), "For to the man who is good before him he has given wisdom and knowledge," this is the father; "and to the sinner he has given the task of gathering and amassing," this is the slave; "to give to the one who is good before God," this is the son. Since the Holy One, blessed be He, preserves the wealth of the wicked for the righteous. Thus said the Holy One, blessed be He: Behold, I will set strife among the kings, so that Abraham may come and take their wealth. From where do we know this? From what they read in the matter of "And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel." They made war against Bera, who was wicked (ra) toward Heaven and toward creatures. Birsha, who became wicked (rasha). Shinab, who hated (sone) the Father (av) who is in Heaven. Shemeber, who said, "I will ascend on a wing (ever) upon the heights of the cloud." [The kings' names are expounded as words describing their wickedness.] "All these joined together at the Valley of Siddim" (Genesis 14:3), which used to suckle them just as breasts (shadayim) suckle an infant. "That is the Salt Sea" (Genesis 14:3), for through their iniquity that valley became salt waters. And likewise it says: "A fruitful land into a salt waste" (Psalms 107:34). Why? "Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it" (Psalms 107:34). "And they turned back and came to En-mishpat" (Genesis 14:7) [literally, "the spring of judgment"]. May the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, be blessed, of whom it is written, "Declaring the end from the beginning" (Isaiah 46:10): because Moses was destined to receive his judgment at Kadesh through the waters, therefore it was called beforehand En-mishpat. "And they smote all the country of the Amalekites" (Genesis 14:7), although Amalek was born only many generations later.