As mentioned at the inception of this series, our intent is to highlight a theme frequently stressed by the Rebbe Shlita: that the name of the parshah reveals its fundamental theme.
The essay to follow, culled from several different sources, illustrates how this principle is reflected throughout the entire parshah.
For all the diverse elements mentioned in this week's parshah represent different aspects of the spiritual journey undertaken by Abraham and his descendants.
The message of Lech Lecha is particularly significant at the present time, the beginning of the month of MarCheshvan.
MarCheshvan is a month of transition involving a journey from the heightened spiritual consciousness of the month of Tishrei to the mundane realities of ordinary living.
But the journey is not intended to be a departure.
On the contrary, the purpose of the journey is to bring the holiness of Tishrei into the context of these day-to-day realities.
May our study of the Rebbe Shlita's insights into Avraham's spiritual journey hasten the coming of the time when he leads the entire Jewish people on the final phase of their venture through history, as we proceed from the exile to Eretz Yisrael with the coming of the Redemption.
Erev Rosh Chodesh MarCheshvan, 5754
Adapted from
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. V, p. 57ff;
Vol. XX, p. 59ff, p. 301ff; Vol. XXV, p. 52;
Sefer HaSichos, 5750 p. 96ff.
Every school child knows the story of Avraham - how he discovered G-d as a child, broke his father's idols, and then was thrown into the furnace by Nimrod and saved by G-d.
None of these particulars, however, can be found in the Written Torah.
The Torah mentions Avraham briefly at the close of Parshas Noach, [1] telling us that he was born, that he married, and that he accompanied his father on his journey to Charan.
But the focus of those verses is on his father Terach, not on Avraham.
It is in Parshas Lech Lecha, with the command, [2] "Go out of your land, your native country, and your father's house," that the Torah begins highlighting the history of Avraham as the founder of our people.
The other stories mentioned previously although part of the Oral Tradition, are not included in the Written Torah.
What is at the heart of this choice of emphasis?
Before receiving this command, Avraham had already attained high rungs in his divine service. It was at the age of three that he had "recognized his Creator," and from that age onward, he continued to grow in his devotion. He had been willing to sacrifice his life for G-d, and a great miracle was performed to save him.
All this, however, represented merely his own striving to unite with G-d.
Receiving the command Lech Lecha, "Go out of your land," began a new and deeper stage in Avraham's relationship with G-d. For, as our Sages state, [3] "a person who observes a mitzvah because he is commanded to do so is greater than one who observes it without having been so commanded."
The word mitzvah and the word tzavta, meaning "together", share the same root. [4]
When a person fulfills a divine command because he has been commanded to do so, the act which he performs is G-dly, and connects him to G-d in all His infinity. If he performs the same deed without having been commanded to do so, his act, however worthy, remains merely a good deed: it does not establish a connection of the same nature.
This is implied by the command, "Go out." Avraham was commanded to depart from his limited mortal framework of reference and establish an unlimited connection with G-d. [5] By doing so, he defined the nature of the relationship between G-d and his descendants, the Jewish people of all time.
Our relationship to G-d is not dependent on our love, understanding, or belief, but is instead a response to G-d's initiative.
Our Rabbis [6] underscore this concept, stating that Avraham's service anticipated the bond with G-d made possible after the giving of the Torah.
Lech also means "proceed," indicating the beginning of an ongoing journey of divine service.
This concept is also alluded to in the Torah's description of Avraham as "continuing on his way, steadily progressing southward," [7] i.e., in the direction of Jerusalem, [8] the place where G-d's presence is manifest.
Real progress means leaving one's previous state entirely.
As long as an individual's personal growth depends on his own power alone, his progress will be limited. [9]
He cannot go beyond the bounds of his own understanding. When, by contrast, his progress is guided by G-d's commandments, there are no limits to the potential for growth. The Torah and its mitzvos can take a person far beyond his own vistas.
To accentuate this point, the command Lech Lecha tells Avraham to proceed "to the land which I will show you" without mentioning a specific destination. For following G-d's commandments brings a person to horizons which he could not appreciate on his own.
The expression "I will show you," Ar-ecka in Hebrew, can also be rendered "I will reveal you," i.e., through the journey to Eretz Yisrael, Avraham's true self was revealed.
This is also indicated by the expression Lech Lecha, which literally means "go to yourself," i.e., "to your essence," [10] to the very source of the soul.
This also points to an unlimited potential, for a Jew's soul is "an actual part of G-d." [11]
A person's spiritual journey involves transcending his ordinary habits and ways of thinking, and tapping his essential G-dly core. [12]
As we proceed through life , each of us is given the chance to discover who he is, what G-d is, and that the two are in essence one.
In the midst of his spiritual journey, a person may be forced to confront challenges, situations which require him to struggle to continue to advance. Nevertheless, since these phases of his journey are also guided by Divine Providence, he must realize that the motivating intent for them is also positive. These situations are, to borrow an expression from our Sages, a descent for the purpose of ascent.
Why must a person face such challenges? Two reasons are given:
- To bring out the fundamental power of his soul. As long as a person does not have to confront a challenge, it is sufficient for him to rely on his ordinary powers; he need not tap his core. When, by contrast, he must face a challenge, he summons up his innermost spiritual resources.
- In the process of overcoming these challenges, the person elevates the sparks of G-dliness they contain.
For all existence is maintained by G-d's creative-energy which is vested within it. Since G-d desired to create a physical world, this divine-energy is hidden within the world's material substance and as a result of this concealment, challenges arise. When a person overcomes these challenges, he reveals the inner G-dly nature of existence.
Avraham's spiritual journey also contained such phases. Shortly after he entered Eretz Yisrael, he was forced to descend to Egypt. Egypt is described as "the nakedness of the land;"
[13] its very name mitzrayim is related to the word meitzarim meaning " boundaries" or "limitations".
[14]
And yet, Avraham's descent to Egypt brought him blessing. He left Egypt "very rich in cattle, in silver, and gold." [15] Moreover, this material wealth came from spiritual effort; Avraham had elevated the sparks of G-dliness invested in that land. [16]
A person's spiritual quest should not be a lonely journey.
On the contrary, one of the signs of one's personal development is the capacity to inspire others to join in this endeavor. Avraham surely gave expression to this thrust, as our Sages commented [17] with regard to the verse, [18] " And he called in the name of the G-d of the universe": "Do not read Vayikra ('And he called'), read Vayakri ('And he had others call')."
This concept is also reflected in the changing of his name from Avram to Avraham. [19]
Rashi [20] explains that Avram has the implication "father of Aram," while Avraham alludes to the Hebrew words meaning "father of many nations."
The change of his name implied that Avraham had been given the potential to inspire and influence all the nations in the world to begin striving toward spiritual purpose.
Significantly, Avraham was given this name in connection with the mitzvah of circumcision.
Circumcision, the mitzvah which affects the most material aspects of our being, demonstrates that our spiritual quest is not an attempt to escape our worldly reality, but rather an attempt to refine it.
Circumcision represents a "covenant in the flesh," [21] and endows our physical bodies themselves with a dimension of holiness. [22]
The above concepts also enable us to appreciate why the promise of Eretz Yisrael to Avraham's descendants is mentioned in connection with the mitzvah of circumcision.
Circumcision reflects the unification of the spiritual and the physical in one's own person, while the relationship between the Jews and Eretz Yisrael reflects the unification of spirituality and physicality in the world at large.
In this sense, the promise of Eretz Yisrael represents the culmination of Avraham's spiritual journey. For the most complete departure from a particular spiritual environment is the transformation of that environment itself.
Thus the fulfillment of G-d's command for Avraham to leave the confines of material existence (Lech Lecha) comes about through his descendants efforts to transform Eretz Yisrael into a dwelling for G-d.
In a complete sense, the promise of Eretz Yisrael will not be realized until the Era of the Redemption and in that sense, the journey of Lech Lecha remains an ongoing endeavor for all of Avraham's descendants.
Until the coming of Mashiach, we are constantly in a state of flux, going beyond the limits of our immediate spiritual level and striving to bring ourselves and our surrounding environment to its ultimate state of fulfillment.
Notes:
- (Back to text) Genesis 11:26-31.
- (Back to text) Genesis 12:1.
- (Back to text) Kiddushin 31a.
- (Back to text) See Likkutei Torah, Parshas Bechukosai 45c.
- (Back to text) There is also another dimension to this point of transition. Previously, Avraham's service was primarily inner-directed, while his journey to Eretz Yisrael began a phase of working with others. The two concepts are interrelated, for the infinite power of a mitzvah allows a person to go beyond his own personal limits.
- (Back to text) Torah Or, Parshas Lech Lecha 11c. Sefer HaArachim Chabad, erech Avraham, sec. 4.
- (Back to text) Genesis 9:12.
- (Back to text) Bereishis Rabbah and Rashi on this verse.
- (Back to text) In this vein, Chassidic thought interprets the command, "Go out of your land, your native country, and your father's house," as a charge to leave ones established habits and ordinary way of thinking.
In this context, it is significant that this charge was addressed to Avraham. Avraham's habits and way of thinking were on a developed plane. Nevertheless, he was instructed to proceed to a higher level, one which transcends the limits of mortal potential.
- (Back to text) Alshich on this verse, Or HaTorah, Lech Lecha, p. 680b et al.
- (Back to text) Tanya, ch. 2.
- (Back to text) This also relates to the divine service of teshuvah which chassidic thought interprets, not as "repentance," but as "return," a return to one's essential G-dly core. See the essay entitled "Teshuvah - Return, not Repentance" in Timeless Patterns In Time, Vol. I, (Kehot, N.Y., 1993).
- (Back to text) cf Genesis 42:9, 12.
- (Back to text) Torah Or, Va'eira, p. 57b ff.
- (Back to text) Genesis 13:2.
- (Back to text) In this vein, our Sages (Bereishis Rabbah 40:6) explain that Avraham's journeys to and from Egypt served as a forerunner for the subsequent descent and ascent of his descendants. Like him, they suffered difficulty in that land, but ultimately, left (as G-d promised to Avraham, Genesis 15:14) with "great wealth." And as explained with regard to Avraham, this wealth was symbolic of the elevation of the G-dly sparks contained within the land.
- (Back to text) Sotah 10a.
- (Back to text) Genesis 21:33.
- (Back to text) Ibid. 17:5.
- (Back to text) In his commentary to that verse.
- (Back to text) Genesis 17:13.
- (Back to text) Our Sages (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:3; Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 8, p. 58 and sources cited there) contrast the mitzvos performed by the forefathers with those performed after the giving of the Torah, explaining that the mitzvos performed by the forefathers were "ethereal," i.e., they did not affect the nature of this material world. In contrast, the mitzvos we perform infuse our material existence with holiness, to the extent that the articles with which mitzvos are performed become consecrated. [See the essay entitled "What Happened at Sinai? What the Giving of the Torah Means to Us" (Timeless Patterns In Time, Vol. II, Kehot, N.Y., 1993). Note also the connection developed in that essay with the concept of performing mitzvos in response to G-d's command.] Circumcision is, however, unique. Even when performed by the forefathers, it achieved a unity between the physical and the spiritual similar to that achieved by the mitzvos performed after the giving of the Torah. Evidence of this can be seen from Avraham's instructions to Eliezar to take an oath (Genesis 24:2). Generally, it is customary to take an oath while holding an object of holiness, a Torah scroll or tefillin. Lacking these objects, Avraham told him instead, "Place your hand beneath my thigh."
Noach - 5754