Leaders Don't Shy from Conflict

Reports had filtered down that conflict was brewing between his shepherds and those of Lot. Abraham lost no time. 

He said to Lot point blank, it's you or me, take your pick! Whatever way you choose, I'll take the other. You split the cookie, and choose first. Whatever you choose, I want out. 

Lot made no attempt at reconciliation; he wanted to start out on his own, maybe like an entrepreneur charting his own course. But, before you knew it, his sprawling encampment bordered on that of Sodom, and presumably, in the tribal period of that time, he simply needed protection; the same way Abraham, our forefather, on coming to the Land of Canaan, needed to make pacts with the locals, Eshkol and Aner, his allies who fought with him to retrieve Lot after he was captured, Lot also sought protection. And so, he made a pact with the devil, becoming an integral part of the most wicked society of the time, known for its inhospitability and draconian ways to the point where it became one of only two societies ever (that, and Ninveh (Jonah)) that God decided to eradicate. 

The salient point here is that the moment Lot was in distress, Abraham immediately gathered his disciples, for Lot was "his brother." He didn't think twice, pursuing his captors from Hebron to Damascus, fighting through the night, with no thought but, "My brother is in trouble." 

When we are able to honestly tell people how we are thinking and feeling, especially when we serve in a leadership capacity, we have so much potential to imbue the world with a greater sense of humanity, founded on integrity and transparency. 

The Rambam in fact writes that the mitzvah of rebuking your fellow man is so that he doesn't repeat his offense; someone's insulted you, tell them what they've done, otherwise you yourself are complicit. 

It seems that from our forefather, Abraham, we learn this virtue, and it was that alone that enabled him, to so daringly and bravely gather his troops and risk his own life, to save that of his nephew's, against whom he bore no grudge whatsoever.