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November 9, 2024
D’var by JRC member Vickie Korey

Lech Lecha is the third parsha in the book of Genesis. In the beginning, there is Creation. The first through seventh days and nights are created. The Sabbath is designated, man and woman are created, sins are noted, and generations are delineated. The second parsha is the story of righteous Noah and a disgruntled God. A flood, the tower of Babel, more sins and more generations.

And now we move further into Genesis; the 3rd parsha, Lech Lecha. In this week’s Torah Portion, God speaks for the first time to our patriarchal ancestor, Abram. In response to the call of God, Abram and his wife Sarai begin their journey to a new land, to a new kind of faith that will become the context of the entire Jewish story to enfold.

Abram and Sarai, and their nephew Lot, travel first to Canaan. There God promises Abram that God will give the land to his offspring. There are initial setbacks. Famine causes them to leave Canaan and travel towards Egypt. While in Egypt, Pharoah notices Sarai and gives Abram and Lot, livestock, gold and silver. God becomes angry that Abram pretends Sarai is his sister and punishes Pharaoh and his palace with plagues. Pharaoh banishes Abram, lets him keep his newfound riches, and the travelers go on their way.

Lot and Abram quarrel and they part ways. Abram and Sarai settle in Hebron; once again God promises Abram all the land for his offspring. Lot settles in the Jordan Plain. Soon however, Lot finds himself amid a conflict, is taken captive in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and Abram comes to his rescue. God comes to Abram in a vision and says his reward will be great; his descendants will be as numerous as the stars. Abram laments to God that he remains childless and questions who will inherit the land he has been promised.

Sarai had not borne Abram any children. She offers her handmaiden Hagar; in the hopes Abram will have a son. Hagar becomes pregnant, jealousy ensues, and Hagar is sent away. An angel of God appears to Hagar in the desert, and the angel tells her she will bear Abram a son, she should name him Ishmael, and Ishmael will be granted many descendants.

God appears again before Abram and once again tells Abram that God will increase his numbers very much. Abram must make a covenant with God; he must be circumcised and must circumcise every male throughout the generations. In return, Abram will become the father of a horde of nations, God will increase his numbers; kings will be among Abram’s descendants.

God speaks to Abram and says, no longer will he be called Abram. “Your name shall become Abraham for I have set you up as a father of a horde of nations.” God then instructed Abraham that his wife Sarai will now be named Sarah and she will be blessed and bear him a son. Abraham falls on his face laughing: he was 100 years old, Sarah was 90 years old. God instructs Abraham too name his son with Sarah Isaac and promises to keep his covenant with Isaac. To Ishmael God will make fruitful and increase his numbers greatly. To Isaac, God will keep his covenant. The parsha ends as all the males in the household are circumcised.

The first sentence of Lech Lecha draws much attention from commentators. Tamar Rabinowitz, Dean of the Center for Jewish Studies in the San Francisco area notes this is the earliest call to move; the call to be walkers to that which God shows us, through life experiences.

Additional commentary centers on the order in which God commands Abram to leave- “from your land, from your birthplace, from your father’s house.” Rabbi Label Lam, co-founder of the Foundation for Jewish Learning, interprets this order to mean, go discover your real power beyond any limitations of your land or your birthplace. Jon Erlbaum, an author at Aish.com focuses his interpretation of the command to “lech lecha” as a command to become an independent thinker: to sort through the values inherited, to become consumers of surrounding beliefs of land, birthplace, and parents home, and then to break free of those influences, to abandon the customs that are reflex, and to shake loose from the house of identity. Rabbi Lam notes that Abram endured many tests in his travels; he was changed by each challenging experience. He needed to travel outward to find himself; he needed to travel inward to struggle and learn to grow.  The Velveteen Rabbi, Rachel Barenblat, translates lech lecha as “go forth,” “you go forth,” “you go forth into yourself.”  Go forth into yourself – take a journey of self-discovery.  Reinvent yourself, realize your mission in life. Recognize your potential.

Also, of interest to the Velveteen Rabbi, Rachel Barenblat, is the change of name given by God to Abram and Sarai. She notes that in Torah, a changed name signifies a changed inner being. As Abram and Sarai move from land to land, as they go forth from the known to the unknown, God bestows on them new names, each receiving the letter hei. Rabbi Barenblat indicates adding the letter hei to a name correlates with the divine presence within.

With God’s commandments and God’s presence, Abram and Sarai set forth on their journey. They become Abraham and Sarah; they change; they learn; they become who they are meant to be.

I have often been drawn to the poem in our siddur on pages 768 and 769 by Ruth Sohn titled, “I Shall Sing to the Lord a New Song.” And while it is listed as a reading for Exodus, and we often recite it at our Seder table, I have also thought of it in terms of Lech Lecha. Taking the first, scary step of a journey, not sure where you will end up, but knowing that while there will be uncertainty and risk, there can also be growth, learning and reward.  That is one of the lessons I take away from Lech Lecha. And as I read this Torah portion to prepare this d’var, a number of points of interest and questions came to mind.

QUESTIONS

  1. Have you ever had a Lech Lecha moment? A journey that changed your life, your way of thinking? Have you taken a potentially life altering journey on a leap of faith?
  2. Scholars comment on Abram’s journey as not only a physical journey but a change to independent thinking, shedding customs and beliefs of his parents’ home. I was raised in a Conservative observant home and with questioning and searching, I broke from those customs and beliefs to embrace Reconstructionist beliefs. Have you had an experience of change in beliefs or customs?
  3. When God changed Abram and Sarai’s names, a Hei was added, which some commentators indicate to mean God’s presence was within them. Have there been any experiences or times you have had, feeling a Godliness within?
  4. American Jews might have 2 names: our English name and our Hebrew name. We often name our descendants after someone who has passed away. A name can be a piece of history; a representation of where we came from. Did you name a child, a pet, a particular name with significance in mind? What does a name mean to you?