Parshat Lech Lecha; Genesis 12:1 – 17:27 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger
“A journey of 1000 miles begins with one step,” states the Chinese folk saying. This week’s portion, Lech Lecha, begins Abraham’s journey to Israel. But in truth this week’s journey is larger than that a trip to a physical place. With God’s call to Abraham (still Abram in the beginning of the portion) an unfolding love story between God and the Jewish people begins. This journey of Abram is a physical journey from Ur to Haran to Canaan which will become the Promised Land, Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel. This journey of Abram will be a spiritual journey to become the people Israel which will be realized through his son, Isaac and grandchild, Jacob and their descendants. This journey will be a metaphor for Abram to become a different and more spiritual human being whose close relationship with the Divine not only changes him but his entire family!
God’s call to Abram to leave his home and his father’s house is also a call away from the pagan worship of his homeland. Our rabbis taught that Terach, Abram’s father was a maker of idols. One day, the midrash teaches, Terach left his son, Abram in charge of the idol store. Abram couldn’t see the logic in worshipping statues that had been made from stone and wood. He smashed them to pieces. Upon his father’s return, Terach was upset and dismayed. “What happened here?” his father demanded to know. Abram explained that the idols got into an argument and destroyed one another. Terach dismissed this answer by saying to Abram, “You know they are only wood and stone they couldn’t have done this.” Abram asks his father, then why do you worship them if they are powerless?”
God’s call to Abram, “Go for yourself, away from your land, from your heritage, from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” (Gen. 12:1) is a call to Abram to establish a relationship with the Divine unique and different from his father’s spiritual expression. Abram must not merely follow blindly in his father’s footsteps but establishes and take responsibility for his own mature relationship with the Divine, the One God. This unique bond will be represented by the covenant that is made between God and Abram. God promises blessing and nationhood as the Divine gift of his loyalty and faith.
It takes great courage for Abram to heed the call from God he can’t see to leave his home, his birthright and his people and move his family to a place that God has not yet even revealed to him. This takes incredible faith, trust, and strength.
It also takes incredible strength and courage for each one of us to have our own unique relationship with God and our covenant. We must not only rely on our parents’ version of Judaism for our own relationship to our tradition and to the Divine. At some point we must take upon ourselves our own covenantal responsibilities. Theoretically the Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony has been the acknowledgement of adult entrance into Jewish life. But for most thirteen year olds this is just a theory. In the Reform movement this was recognized early on and the ceremony of Confirmation was added usually at sixteen years of age. Confirmation allowed a young man or woman in their mid-teens to consider a deeper call from God through the exploration of the deeper ethics and values of our tradition. They confirmed their faith and their acceptance of our Torah and our covenant as part of the ritual. Sixteen years of age in most places is a time of greater responsibility since most teens acquire a driver’s license or permit. Just as they go out into the world in a different way, they can heed a call of accountability and conscientiousness in their own spiritual outlook.
Even at sixteen however, we are not fully formed. A mature relationship with the Divine comes with time and age and experience. We human beings should always be examining that spiritual dimension of our lives throughout our lifetime. That is but one of the many reasons Judaism encourages life long Torah study. It helps us evolve, grow and change. It helps us examine our beliefs and deepens our faith and builds that mature relationship with the sacred.
God’s call to Abram should be a call to each one of us. Let us hear the words spoken to Abram as call to journey toward the Divine. Let us hear the call of Lech Lecha, Go to yourself, Go for yourself, Go towards yourself and to the Holy One of Blessing who calls out to You. This week let us examine our own faith and pledge to deepen it, study it and make it our own as Abram and Sarai did through their covenant with God.
Posted by Lee at October 30, 2006 04:15 PM
