Parashat Lech Lecha: How Does Avraham’s Journey Reflect the Spiritual Journey of Every Jew?

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Parashat Lech Lecha

How Does Avraham’s Journey Reflect the Spiritual Journey of Every Jew?
 

Why Did I Choose to Teach Parashat Lech Lecha for Numerous Years?

Parashat Lech Lecha is one of my favorites because it is about G-d charging Avraham and Sarah with the mission to follow Him to the Land of Israel. Avraham and Sarah’s journey toward the land, while forging their relationship with Hashem, parallels my own and the journeys of most of my students in so many ways. As Ramban teaches “The actions of the (fore)fathers are an indication to their children” (Ramban, Bereishit 12:6). Just as G-d told Avraham, “Lech lecha – go to yourself,” to your source, each of us is always trying to grow spiritually whether we are fully aware of it or not. Since we can all identify with leaving our country, birthplace, and our father’s house, I have chosen to teach Parashat Lech Lecha and continued to teach it for numerous years. For most students from abroad (including myself 45 years ago), it can be challenging to uproot ourselves from our well-known surroundings and replant ourselves in an unknown land with a foreign language and culture. Therefore, we are soothed by Rashi’s comforting words which resonate so well with our own inner truth: “Go for yourself - for your own benefit, for your own good” (Rashi, Bereishit 12:1). Going to the land of Israel, for a born Jew or a Jew to be, is a spiritual journey to the essence of our soul which is enrooted deeply in the Holy Land. Our connection to the Land of Israel is like the relationship of our soul to the body. Without the Land of Israel, we are a mere shadow of our inner potential, unable to truly express our Jewish Neshama. The Divine gift of the Promised Land to Avraham’s descendants has its own positive deeper purpose that transcends any rational explanations. When G-d told Avrahamלֶךְ לְךָ/Lech lecha, He didn’t reveal where to go, because his true destination was the internal journey to the essence of his soul. Avraham was to go to the place from where he was created, which is the Temple Mount. For humanity is created from the place of his atonement. The Temple below is connected to the Temple above. From this place, the souls descend and ascend on the ladder (Kli Yakar, Bereishit 12:1). In my own spiritual journey, at that very place, I discovered my soul! Any tourist visiting Israel ends up sooner or later at the Western Wall. I just stood there, in awe of the sense of sanctity that pervaded the place, without a word of prayer crystallizing on my lips. The intense light reflected by the ancient stones penetrated the empty space in my very heart and soul. As I entered the square in front of the Wall, I knew that I had finally come home.  

Eretz Yisrael the Land of Prophecy

ספר בראשית פרק יב פסוק א וַיֹּאמֶר הָשֵׁם אֶל אַבְרָם לֶךְ לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ:

“Hashem said to Avram, ‘Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you’” (Bereishit 12:1).

Why didn’t Hashem reveal to Avraham which land he was leading him to? According to Rashi, by not revealing his destination at once, Avraham would value the land so much more. In addition, Hashem wanted to reward Avraham for fulfilling His commandment each step of the way. Another reason is that it’s impossible to perceive the meaning of the Land of Israel outside of the land. Many newcomers to Israel can testify to how they had to arrive here before understanding what Eretz Yisrael is all about. In this spirit, Kli Yakar explains that G-d did not want to show Avraham the original place of body and soul until he first received a Divine spirit from above. Since prophecy does not exist outside the land of Israel, whenever he was still outside the land of Israel, he did not understand the essence of the soul whose source is at the Temple Mount. He could not even understand the core of the formation of the physical from there. Only within the land of Israel – the place prepared for prophecy – could G-d show him the goodness of this holy place and how it is the place of the essence of humanity, for there is his home and the place from where both his body and soul emanate. Therefore, it is fitting to leave everything behind to go and cleave to this holy place, for from there we will be able to cleave to the Divine presence… (Kli Yakar, Bereishit 12:1).

“The Land that I Will Show You” – Our Dynamic Relationship with the Land of Israel

The phrase הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ – “…the land that I will show you,” can also be understood as “the land to which I will show you.” (The suffix ךָּ/cha – “you” can be read both as – ‘I will show the land to you,’ or as I will show you to the land.’ In the holy tongue, the root of the word to see or to show ר-א-ה/resh, alef, heh is also the root of the word רָאוּי/ra’ui – ‘seen,’ ‘fitting’ or ‘suitable.’ Thus, the meaning of the word אַרְאֶךָּ /areka – I will show you to her and her to you. For one without the other is not seen (fitting) to have the Shechina dwell successfully. When Hashem told Avraham to follow him to the land that he would show him, Hashem also alluded that Avraham and the Land of Israel are suitable for one another. Furthermore, they will be in a 2-way relationship. The land is not only seen by Avraham, Avraham is also seen by the land. (Based on Ohr Hachayim, Bereishit 12:1). Just as the painter sees the tree, the tree sees the painter. Hashem is saying, “I will show you to her, and I will show her to you.” In Israel, you will experience and feel as if the land looks back on you. Here we are not only a subject but also an object. Be’er Mayim explains the phrase, “In the land, I will reveal myself to you.” That is, only in the Holy Land does G-d reveal Himself to us. The land of Israel endows us with a new quality of seeing, it is the quality of mutual relationship with Hashem, the land, and with ourselves. Perhaps we can say that Israel is “The Land of Relationship.” 

“The Land of Israel is Acquired through Suffering” 

Why wasn’t Avraham born in the Land of Israel? Why did he have to undergo the extreme difficulties of uprooting himself from his familiar surroundings and enduring ten increasingly difficult tests? Avraham served as our predecessor by overcoming tests and challenges to deserve the Holy Land. “The Land of Israel is acquired through suffering” (Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 5a). To reach Eretz Yisrael, the Jewish people demonstrated complete commitment to her. Throughout the exile, ascending to Eretz Yisrael was most difficult, with many dying en route. In most generations, the majority of those who succeeded in reaching the Land were forced to live in poverty. Establishing the State of Israel also involved great self-sacrifice and hardships, we have been forced to fight for her. Had Avraham not undergone his great challenges to earn the merit of the Land of Israel for his descendants, the Land would not and could not have become part of the heart of Jews, nor would we have been privileged to return to her and live within her. The first time we encounter the need to suffer to merit the Land of Israel is in chapter 15 of Bereishit. In the Covenant Between the Pieces, G-d promised the Land to Avraham’s descendants who would have to first go through oppression during the Egyptian exile (Bereishit 15:13). Still, today during our current war, the suffering continues as our brave, devoted, and holy soldiers are risking their lives fighting for our safety. 

The Holocaust Teaches us About the Value of the Land of Israel

During the Covenant Between the Pieces, an intense fright and a great darkness fell upon Avraham as he was shown a vision of a smoking furnace which is dreadfully reminiscent of the holocaust:

ספר בראשית פרק ט”ו פסוק יז וַיְהִי הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ בָּאָה וַעֲלָטָה הָיָה וְהִנֵּה תַנּוּר עָשָׁן וְלַפִּיד אֵשׁ אֲשֶׁר עָבַר בֵּין הַגְּזָרִים הָאֵלֶּה:

“Now it came to pass that the sun had set, and it was dark, and behold, a smoking furnace and a torch of fire passed between these pieces” (Bereishit 15:17).

Indeed, this pasuk includes a Torah code spelling out the word Hitler with an ELS (equal letter sequence of seven. It is not by chance that only three years following the end of the Holocaust, the land of Israel returned to Jewish hands after almost 2000 years of exile. Nobody can explain or justify the horrors of the Holocaust, but it still gives us a clue about the value of the Land of Israel, that we had to undergo suffering to this extent in order to merit the Land of Israel. Let us honor those who perished in the Holocaust by investing our energy and efforts in connecting to and building the Land of Israel! Nevertheless, we will never be able to realize the preciousness of the G-d-given land intertwined with the essence of our soul. 

The Connection between Character Development and the Final Boundaries of the Land 

Whenever I get up to the end of Bereishit Chapter 15 in my course in Parashat Lech Lecha, my students are always surprised to learn that according to the Torah, the final boundaries of the land of Israel will be so much greater than the part of the Land that we possess today. The difference between Israel today and Israel in the time of Mashiach is almost according to the same proportion as one single finger to a hand. Hashem promised Avraham not only the land of the seven Canaanite nations that King David had conquered, mentioned in Devarim 7:1, but also the land of three additional nations, the Kenites, the Kenisites, and the Kadmonites (See Bereishit 15:19-21). Ten nations are mentioned here, but He only gave them seven nations. The three first ones mentioned the Keni, Knizi, and Kadmoni are nicknames for Edom, Moav, and Amon their land will only be inherited in the future-to-come (Rashi, Bereishit 15:19). The Keni is Amon, The Kenizi is Moav, The Kadmoni is Edom since Amalek came from him who was the first (kadmoni) to attack Israel... (Chizkuni). For many years I have been teaching that I believe the ten nations correspond to the 10 sefirot. They are divided into three and seven corresponding to the three intellectual sefirot (Chabad) and the seven emotional. The ten nations were the impure husk of the sefirot (the other side). Recently I learned a Torah teaching that confirmed my assertion. Our ability to conquer the Holy Land depends on rectifying our character traits corresponding to the sefirot. Our Patriarchs were promised the land of Israel due to their rectification of the character traits that correspond to the seven lower sefirot. When Mashiach will come and rectify the three uppermost sefirot of Keter, Chachma, and Binah, then we will be able to conquer the entire land promised to Avraham in the Covenant Between the Pieces. For those of us who aren’t serving in the army, fighting evil terrorists, it is good to know that we too can contribute to the victory of our current war, by working hard at refining our character. 

Elevation Through Hardships and Lowliness

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Parashat Lech Lecha

Elevation Through Hardships and Lowliness

Fixing the Feature of Going Forward from Strength to Strength
I’m so elated and thankful for how our holy people in Israel respond to crises and hardships. The polarization and tension between the opposing camps had been unbearable.  It was escalating to the degree that I was concerned that it would end in civil war, G-d forbid. Hashem returned unity to our people by bringing us together to fight our mutual enemy. We all wish we wouldn’t need this war to bring our holy people together and reignite our love of the land of Israel. This love, devotion, and emunah that has been sparked by our current state of war is a spiritual inheritance from Avraham our Father, more specifically from his response to his first mitzvah. 

ספר בראשית פרק יב פסוק א וַיֹּאמֶר הָשֵׁם אֶל אַבְרָם לֶךְ לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ:

“Hashem said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you’” (Bereishit 12:1).

Since Hashem charged Avraham to go from his land, birthplace, and the house of his father, we are called upon to keep walking in his footsteps. Rav Tzaddok of Lublin asks why it states לֶךְ לְךָ/lech lecha – “go from your land”? The word לֶךְ/lech in Hebrew means to go toward a place or goal, whereas the Hebrew word צֵא/tze – ‘leave’ is used to indicate going from a place. Didn’t Avraham need to go out and leave his environment completely before he could go toward the Holy Land?  It should therefore have rather stated, צֵא מֵאַרְצֵךְ –‘go out from’ (leave) your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house,’ and only then לֶךְ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ – ‘go to the land I will show you.’ Rav Tzaddok answers his question by sharing a deep concept from the Zohar regarding going forward and elevating ourselves specifically through hardships. Avraham was commanded to rectify the level of going. Although Terach was an idol-worshipper of the highest caliber, Avraham was commanded to distance himself and detach completely from him both spiritually and physically as well as from everything else in his environment. He had the ability to go forward with an even greater strength not despite, but explicitly because of his lowly background (Pri Tzaddik, Parashat Lech Lecha 1). Like Avraham, our Father, the darkness of the current murderous attacks is propelling Am Yisrael (the people of Israel) to go forward both physically and spiritually from strength to strength.

 

Darkness serves as a springboard to Propel Us to our Higher Selves

I have treated many women for traumas and childhood wounds and helped them realize how their hardships brought them to become the refined compassionate women they are today. We are now witnessing how the Jewish people in the entire Land of Israel and abroad are transforming our pain and fright into prayer and spiritual growth. No matter how much throbbing pain and fear we experience, this place of darkness serves as a springboard to go forward and propel ourselves to our elevated higher selves. The more a rubber band is pulled back the higher it will fly when it is finally released, as we learn from Yosef, who rose straight from prison to become second in charge to Pharaoh. Rav Shlomo Carlebach tells the following story, which illustrates how it is our lowliness that brings us to the highest place. During the Levanon war, Rav Shlomo went to give chizuk (spiritually strengthen) to the soldiers. When he approached the military Rabbi, he told him that the food was kosher. Rav Shlomo replied, “I didn’t come here to eat, neither did the soldiers. I am asking you how the souls of the soldiers are doing. Are you learning Torah with them?” “No,” said the Rav, they are not interested. Rav Shlomo told him, “If I ask the soldier furthest away from Torah to learn with me Orot Hakodesh of Rav Kook, I bet he will be interested.” So, Rav Shlomo took a soldier aside who clearly looked like someone who would eat Chametz on Pesach and pork on Yom Kippur. Yet, Rav Shlomo understood that this guy was willing to die for the sake of the Holy Land, he was not a simple guy. Rav Shlomo had learned Orot Hakodesh with many people beforehand, but never with a person who mamash cried, not only at every word but at every letter of Orot Hakodesh. I’m grateful to our neighbors and friends with whom we share so much love and prayer at this time. Our hearts have been opened to feel so much more kinship and love for everyone we know as well as for those we don’t know personally. The burdensome tension and accusations between fellow Jews have been exchanged with kindness and sisterhood. My heart is filled with love, admiration, and gratitude to my students who are remaining faithful to the Land of Israel and to their soldier duty to learn Torah even more fervently than ever before!

 

Leaving Behind our Blocking Impurities by Going Forward Toward Pure Holiness

Although the low place that we came from can help us achieve even greater heights, we still do need to detach ourselves from whatever impurities we originated to move forward, climbing the highest Torah path. In Egypt when we became a people by receiving our first collective mitzvah, Hashem took us out of the fifty gates of impurity and brought us to the fifty gates of understanding. The Exodus was only possible due to Avraham paving the way. “The deeds of our Patriarchs (and Matriarchs) are the signs for the children.” Prior to the Exodus, Avraham was commanded to detach himself from the fifty gates of impurity and go forward to the fifty gates of understanding, through his first mitzvah of, לֶךְ לְךָ/lech lecha. This is alluded to in the numerical value of לֶךְ לְךָ/lech lecha. These words have the gematria of 50 + 50 teaching all of us to go toward the fifty gates of purity and to leave the fifty gates of impurity behind. Through Avraham’s going forward toward Hashem’s command, he was able to remove himself from his past as it states: 

ספר בראשית פרק יב פסוק ד

וַיֵּלֶךְ אַבְרָם כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֵלָיו הָשֵׁם וַיֵּלֶךְ אִתּוֹ לוֹט וְאַבְרָם בֶּן חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים וְשִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה בְּצֵאתוֹ מֵחָרָן:

“So Avram went, as the Eternal had spoken to him; and Lot went with him: and Avram was 75 years old when he went out from Haran” (Bereishit 12:4).

 

What is the Great Merit of the Politically Incorrect Term Obedience?

The uniqueness of Avraham is not his profound realization of the One G-d in his mind, but his profound responsibility to the Living G-d in action. The first greatness ascribed to Avraham, our Father in the Torah is: “Avraham went as Hashem told him.” The Torah’s evasion of Avraham’s past clearly indicates that his chosen-ness was not based on his past. The reason for his selection is specifically Avraham’s readiness to be a soldier of Hashem obeying his very first command to detach from his past and go to an unknown future in the land of Israel. It is not the Avraham of the past who is chosen, but the Avraham of the present and the future, who in saying, “yes” as he transforms himself into the ‘chosen.’ Avraham chose to obey Hashem and be in a relationship with him. His going out (צֵא/tze) could only take place after his going forward לֶךְ/lech. The way of the Torah is always to continue to be in לֶךְ לְךָ/lech lecha – “Go to yourself” – ‘go to your higher self and activate the divine spark of your soul.’ In the Torah world, we talk about being on or off the דֶרֶך/derech – ‘path.’ Keeping the Torah laws is called הֲלָכָה/halacha – ‘going.’ The power of the mitzvot is to keep us going on the path of truth. The word mitzvah comes from the Hebrew word צַוְתָּא/tzavta, meaning to connect or be with, in a צֶוֶת/tzevet – ‘team.’ Through walking in the way of the mitzvot we connect to Hashem in the deepest way. The mitzvot we take on becomes our garment replacing the impurity of our past. The success of war depends on the unity of the soldiers, which requires perfectly obeying their commands. The action of soldering different parts together requires first smoothing out the sharp edges. Similarly, in the process of uniting to become one we need to remove the sharp edges of our ego that prevent us from obeying Hashem’s command. Avraham’s lech lecha, not only empowered his descendants to go out of their Egyptian enslavement in the past, but he continues to empower us to leave our exile mentality behind and jointly go forward toward the final geulah (redemption). 

  

Gratitude Focus for the Week of Parashat Lech Lecha

        

     • Letting go – Leave the Pain of the Past Behind – Past traumas and childhood wounds have         the ability to propel you forward to your higher selves.  Visualize the energy of your trauma         as leaving your body. 

• Grounding – Find a relaxing, safe place, sit comfortably, and take several deep breaths. Bring your attention to your body, tense and release your muscles, and allow yourself to feel connected to the ground beneath you. Imagine energy flowing from your tailbone to the center of the earth.

• Recalling – Think of a situation that has upset you recently. Revisit the sequence of events in detail and envision yourself back in this time and place. Imagine this experience with your senses.

• Sensing – Scan your body for sensations, and curiously observe each of these physical reactions. Silently describe them to yourself.

• Naming – Connect your sensations to emotions. It may be helpful to view a list of emotions before this step.

• Accepting and Loving – Accept your feelings. Repeat, “I love myself for feeling _______.”

• Feeling – Allow your feelings to come and go. Observe and acknowledge them and express your emotions constructively.

• Receiving Wisdom – Connect your current emotions with past experiences. Do they provide insight? Ask yourself, “What is this sensation or emotion saying to me?” Which points of light surface through my darkness? 

• Thanking – Thank Hashem for the good points within your pain, realizing how whatever hardships you have been going through are refining you to become the compassionate caring person you are today. 

• Directing your Acceptance of Past Pains into Personal Prayer – Gratitude is the most important element of personal prayer. The yetzer hara incites us to cut our expressions of gratitude short and to focus on praying for release from our problems. Expressions of gratitude can be more conducive to arousing Divine compassion than tears because focusing on our troubles is spurred by gratitude.

• Prayer of Gratitude – Ask Hashem to help us understand how everything in our life is for the very best and to thank Him for it. Begin with the fixed blessings in our lives such as our parents, our spouses, and our children. Take nothing for granted and don’t forget to thank Hashem for your lungs and the air you breathe. Afterward, you can thank Hashem for the particular blessings of the past 24 hours.

• Thanking Hashem for your Mistakes, Setbacks, and Hardships – Only after being in darkness can we appreciate the light. “Master of the World, beloved Father in Heaven, thank You for Your wonderful and personal intervention in my life. Thank You for showing me my shortcomings by letting me make mistakes. Thank You for arousing me to make a greater effort to get close to You. I wouldn’t have made this effort if I hadn’t experienced the setback. Thank You for my periodic difficulties, my occasional setbacks, and for the times when I don’t feel happy, because everything is for my ultimate benefit, even if I don’t see that it’s always for my best. Thank You for the times of hardships because they enable me to fully appreciate the good times.”

• Gratitude for Being Able to Keep Hashem’s Mitzvot –Thank You for giving me the strength to observe Your mitzvot, to do good deeds, and to pray. Empower me with humility to always obey you even when I don’t understand the reason for Your mitzvah. Thank You for all the times You helped me, and I didn’t know how to say, “Thank You.” (Credit of https://breslev.com/424271/).