Parasha Lech Lecha
SAN DIEGO — Want to move beyond your limits and extend your potential? To do so requires that you forcefully replace any limiting thinking, and “Go out of your land, our native country, and your father’s house…” Contemporary self-help and self-awareness suggests asking, “Who am I?,” “What do I desire from my life?,” “What purpose do I have in life?,” “What am I called to do in my life?,” and “What am I truly grateful for in my life?”
This week’s parasha teaches that to live a meaningful life, turning inward and reflecting on these questions are important, yet we may also have to ditch the links to our past and project a new course…guided by Torah as our road map to discovering our real purpose. We may have to leave our comfortable Haran to go to our Canaan, our Land of Israel.
The parasha directs us to find our true selves by leaving our comfortable present surroundings and, in order to fully eliminate any humanly imposed limits, listen to the voice of the Lord, not to one’s own will, desires, goals and plans.
| And the L-rd 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.” | ַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵֽאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ: |
The Alshich, in Or HaTorah, tells us that Lech Lecha commands “go for yourself from your land,” i.e., “go to yourself,” or “to your essence.” This was the first mitzvah that Avram received from G-d, indeed, it was the first time He speaks to Avram, and one of the ten tests that G-d gave to Avram. Oh, and Avram was 75 years old at the time. Think about what you might be doing at 75, reinventing yourself with a new challenge in life, far from your home?
Avram didn’t think, “Why not? That’s a good idea. I think I’ll do it.” No, Avram followed this mitzvah because G-d commanded it and as a result, this strengthened his connection to Hashem. In fact, it says in Kiddushin (31a), “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 Ramban explains that the tests we undergo during our lives are entirely for our benefit – not G-d’s. His tests of us afford us the opportunity to transform our potential into genuine spiritual achievements beyond our imagination. By following Hashem’s voice, we are rewarded with deeper self-insight and greater self-actualization.
Perhaps this is an ultimate lesson this week. Who doesn’t experience adversity or challenges in life? Avram focused on the voice of G-d. Avram kept his awareness on where he was being led TO, not simply focused on what test he was going THROUGH. We have the same opportunity and choice to make. Do we listen to our own limiting voice and feel self-defeated, terrified, panicked, depressed, or do we grow through our tests by continuing to go forward following the mitzvot of Hashem, Lech Lecha?
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Dr. Mantell writes a d’var Torah each week for Young Israel of San Diego, where he and his family worship.