Parshat
Lech Lecha
Avram
receives a Divine call to leave his town of Choran (Haran) with his
wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all of their possessions. They were
to proceed to a place that G-d would show them. They journeyed to Canaan
and stopped in the city of Shechem. There G-d appeared to Avram in a
vision and promised that He would make Avram the father of a great nation
in the land of Canaan.
A severe famine hits Canaan, and Avram is forced to travel to Egypt. When Sarai is taken captive by the Pharoah, Avram tells him that she is his sister. When Pharoah and his household, are stricken with a mysterious illness, he realizes that Sarai is not Avram’s sister, but his wife. Avram and his followers are asked to leave Egypt after Sarai is returned.
Avram becomes a shepherd with his nephew Lot. They both prosper but conflicts arise between the herdsmen of the two families. Lot and Avram agree to separate. Lot goes east to the fertile plains of Jordan and settles near the city of Sodom. Avram settles near the Plains of Mamre, which is near the city of Chevron (Hebron).
There were five kings who ruled Canaan at this time. A war breaks out and the cities of Sodom and Gemorrah are captured along with Lot. Avram and his followers attack and free Lot. The king of Sodom wishes to give Avram a reward to saving his city, but Avram refuses.
Avram is getting older and upset that he has no son to follow after him. G-d appears to Avram and makes a covenant with him known as the “Covenant Between the Halves”. He tells Avram to step outside of his tent and try to count the stars. His descendants will be too numerous to count. G-d also tells Avram that his descendants will be enslaved in a foreign country, but then they will be redeemed, and emerge with great wealth.
Sarai is also upset that she cannot bear children. She tells Avram to go to her maid Hagar and try to have children with her. They will then become Sarai’s children as well. Hagar has a son named Yishmael.
When Avram is aged ninety-nine, G-d renews the covenant and changes his name to Avraham, meaning “father of a multitude of nations”. Sarai’s name is changed to Sarah meaning, “Princess for all”. Every male child must be circumcised at eight days of age. Yishmael was circumcised at thirteen, and every other male, including Avraham, had to be circumcised as well.
The opening words of our parsha seem very strange. The words lech lecha,
which are usually translated as “get thee out” literally
mean, “go to you”. In the simple meaning of the text, Avram
is told to leave his father’s house and the land of his birth
and travel on an unknown journey, to an unknown land. He was to take
his wife and family with him. Only his faith in the one True G-d would
guide him.
We know little about Avram and his life before this point. Avram is demonstrating the traits of bitachon and emunah (trust and faith). This is a hallmark for our patriarchs and some of the greatest sages in our history. The Midrash says that Avram’s father, terach, was an idol builder. When Avram heard the call of G-d, he decided one day to smash all the idols in his father’s shop. He then placed the hammer in the hands of the largest idol he left remaining. When his father returned and inquired about the mess, Avram told him that the idols had gotten into an argument and the largest idol destroyed all the others. Incredulous, his father began to yell at Avram for an obvious falsehood. How could idols of wood and stone attack each other? Avram triumphantly proclaimed that that was true. How could anyone worship pieces of stone and wood fashioned by Man? Avram was then sent to the king, Nimrod, for trial. Found guilty, he was sentenced to be cast into a flaming furnace, but his faith and trust in G-d saved him. This was the first of ten trials Avram would face as he followed the path of G-d (see parsha vayeira).
What does the Torah teach us if we interpret the words lech lecha as “go to you”? The Torah is teaching us that Avram, like others, was beginning not only a physical journey, but a spiritual one as well. He needed to “find himself”. He needed to find his spiritual center of focus. The concepts of thoughts, speech, and action are at the heart of who we are. Our thoughts pop in and out of our brains like wisps of energy. They are the flash of insight, the “seychel”. These thoughts may be further enhanced when articulated into speech. Educational Psychologists know that students understand concepts better when they “talk out loud” while solving problems. Torah study is best performed through speech as opposed to silent study. Finally, all of this thought and talk is meaningless unless followed up by “action”.
Avram could have come to a rational conclusion about the existence of one G-d. he may have even preached about it to others. But unless he “lived it”, in his actions and deeds, he and others would never come to fully grasp the concepts of Torah and mitzvos. A true Torah scholar is considered by the sages of be a living Sefer Torah. It is said that the disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch (a successor to the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidim) would flock to watch how he ties his shoes. Such was the power of a person who truly embodies the essence of Torah through all of their deeds.
Trust and faith in Hashem can result in consequences that involve death. The sages martyred by the Romans knew the dangers of teaching Torah and all died sanctifying G-d’s name (al Kiddush Hashem). The ten martyrs included Rav Chaninah. He was burned at the stake but not allowed to die quickly. Romans covered him with wet cloths to prolong the torture. He dies clutching a Torah scroll. In his agony, his students asked him what he saw as the parchment burned. With his life slipping away he cried, “The parchment is burning, but the letters are ascending to Heaven”.
There is a story about Rav Yitzchak, from the Talmud, which states that when he was young, he was taken to a Maggid who said to him, “I will give you one gold coin if you can find where Hashem is”. The boy replied, “I will give you two gold coins if you can find a place where Hashem is not!”
Another curious point is the order of events listed by the Torah. One would think that if G-d commanded Avram to leave the land of his birth, that would imply that he was also leaving his town, and his father’s house (whereas, if he was commanded to just leave his father’s house, it would not necessarily mean he had to leave his country as well). The Torah says:
“Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house…”
The late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendl Schneerson, writes that the order of events implies a spiritual progression. “From your land”; leave behind the basic physical and material tendencies with which we are all born. “From your birthplace (kindred)”; leave behind the traits and dispositions acquired from one’s environment. “From your father’s house”; leave behind those attitudes and character thrusts ingrained by one’s home.
Any Jew, writes the Lubavitcher Rebbe, must be prepared to “leave his land” and go to “the Land which I will show you”. In other words, we are all on a spiritual journey. We leave behind the familiar and comfortable and travel to spiritual realms unknown. We strive each year to increase our knowledge and level of observance. We may never reach the levels of the patriarchs or Moshe Rabbeinu . That’s alright as long as we try to be the best of ourselves.
A severe famine hits Canaan, and Avram is forced to travel to Egypt. When Sarai is taken captive by the Pharoah, Avram tells him that she is his sister. When Pharoah and his household, are stricken with a mysterious illness, he realizes that Sarai is not Avram’s sister, but his wife. Avram and his followers are asked to leave Egypt after Sarai is returned.
Avram becomes a shepherd with his nephew Lot. They both prosper but conflicts arise between the herdsmen of the two families. Lot and Avram agree to separate. Lot goes east to the fertile plains of Jordan and settles near the city of Sodom. Avram settles near the Plains of Mamre, which is near the city of Chevron (Hebron).
There were five kings who ruled Canaan at this time. A war breaks out and the cities of Sodom and Gemorrah are captured along with Lot. Avram and his followers attack and free Lot. The king of Sodom wishes to give Avram a reward to saving his city, but Avram refuses.
Avram is getting older and upset that he has no son to follow after him. G-d appears to Avram and makes a covenant with him known as the “Covenant Between the Halves”. He tells Avram to step outside of his tent and try to count the stars. His descendants will be too numerous to count. G-d also tells Avram that his descendants will be enslaved in a foreign country, but then they will be redeemed, and emerge with great wealth.
Sarai is also upset that she cannot bear children. She tells Avram to go to her maid Hagar and try to have children with her. They will then become Sarai’s children as well. Hagar has a son named Yishmael.
When Avram is aged ninety-nine, G-d renews the covenant and changes his name to Avraham, meaning “father of a multitude of nations”. Sarai’s name is changed to Sarah meaning, “Princess for all”. Every male child must be circumcised at eight days of age. Yishmael was circumcised at thirteen, and every other male, including Avraham, had to be circumcised as well.
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred,
and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show
thee
We know little about Avram and his life before this point. Avram is demonstrating the traits of bitachon and emunah (trust and faith). This is a hallmark for our patriarchs and some of the greatest sages in our history. The Midrash says that Avram’s father, terach, was an idol builder. When Avram heard the call of G-d, he decided one day to smash all the idols in his father’s shop. He then placed the hammer in the hands of the largest idol he left remaining. When his father returned and inquired about the mess, Avram told him that the idols had gotten into an argument and the largest idol destroyed all the others. Incredulous, his father began to yell at Avram for an obvious falsehood. How could idols of wood and stone attack each other? Avram triumphantly proclaimed that that was true. How could anyone worship pieces of stone and wood fashioned by Man? Avram was then sent to the king, Nimrod, for trial. Found guilty, he was sentenced to be cast into a flaming furnace, but his faith and trust in G-d saved him. This was the first of ten trials Avram would face as he followed the path of G-d (see parsha vayeira).
What does the Torah teach us if we interpret the words lech lecha as “go to you”? The Torah is teaching us that Avram, like others, was beginning not only a physical journey, but a spiritual one as well. He needed to “find himself”. He needed to find his spiritual center of focus. The concepts of thoughts, speech, and action are at the heart of who we are. Our thoughts pop in and out of our brains like wisps of energy. They are the flash of insight, the “seychel”. These thoughts may be further enhanced when articulated into speech. Educational Psychologists know that students understand concepts better when they “talk out loud” while solving problems. Torah study is best performed through speech as opposed to silent study. Finally, all of this thought and talk is meaningless unless followed up by “action”.
Avram could have come to a rational conclusion about the existence of one G-d. he may have even preached about it to others. But unless he “lived it”, in his actions and deeds, he and others would never come to fully grasp the concepts of Torah and mitzvos. A true Torah scholar is considered by the sages of be a living Sefer Torah. It is said that the disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch (a successor to the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidim) would flock to watch how he ties his shoes. Such was the power of a person who truly embodies the essence of Torah through all of their deeds.
Trust and faith in Hashem can result in consequences that involve death. The sages martyred by the Romans knew the dangers of teaching Torah and all died sanctifying G-d’s name (al Kiddush Hashem). The ten martyrs included Rav Chaninah. He was burned at the stake but not allowed to die quickly. Romans covered him with wet cloths to prolong the torture. He dies clutching a Torah scroll. In his agony, his students asked him what he saw as the parchment burned. With his life slipping away he cried, “The parchment is burning, but the letters are ascending to Heaven”.
There is a story about Rav Yitzchak, from the Talmud, which states that when he was young, he was taken to a Maggid who said to him, “I will give you one gold coin if you can find where Hashem is”. The boy replied, “I will give you two gold coins if you can find a place where Hashem is not!”
Another curious point is the order of events listed by the Torah. One would think that if G-d commanded Avram to leave the land of his birth, that would imply that he was also leaving his town, and his father’s house (whereas, if he was commanded to just leave his father’s house, it would not necessarily mean he had to leave his country as well). The Torah says:
“Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house…”
The late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendl Schneerson, writes that the order of events implies a spiritual progression. “From your land”; leave behind the basic physical and material tendencies with which we are all born. “From your birthplace (kindred)”; leave behind the traits and dispositions acquired from one’s environment. “From your father’s house”; leave behind those attitudes and character thrusts ingrained by one’s home.
Any Jew, writes the Lubavitcher Rebbe, must be prepared to “leave his land” and go to “the Land which I will show you”. In other words, we are all on a spiritual journey. We leave behind the familiar and comfortable and travel to spiritual realms unknown. We strive each year to increase our knowledge and level of observance. We may never reach the levels of the patriarchs or Moshe Rabbeinu . That’s alright as long as we try to be the best of ourselves.
