(1) G?d said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. (2) I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you; I will make your name great, And you shall be a blessing. (3) I will bless those who bless you And curse him that curses you; And all the families of the earth Shall bless themselves by you.” (4) Abram went forth as G?d had commanded him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
לך לך GET THEE OUT (literally, go for thyself) — for your own benefit, for your own good
ויאמר ה' אל אברם לך לך (בראשית יב, א). רבים מקשים למה הביא אברהם את שרה לסכנה זו שילך עמה למצרים כיון שלא אמר לו השם יתברך. והנראה מה שהשם יתברך אמר לאברהם אל הארץ אשר אראך, אמר לו שלזה הארץ אשר יהיה הסבה שילך ילך שם. והנה אברהם כאשר בא לארץ ישראל והיה שם הרעב ראה כי כן הסיבה מן השם יתברך שלא יהיו כאן. וזהו ויהי רעב בארץ וירד אברם מצרימה כי כבד הרעב בארץ, בזה ראה כי כן הסבה שלא ישאר כאן רק ילך לארץ אחרת ונמצא זה הוא מן ה' שילך אל ארץ אשר יהיה שם הרצון מן ה':
Genesis 6,9. “The Lord said to Avram: ‘go for yourself,’ etc.” Many commentators ask why Avram endangered Sarai by taking her with him to Egypt, seeing that G’d had not given any instruction for either him or his wife to go to Egypt? The answer may be in the words: אל הארץ אשר אראך, “to the land that I will show you.” By being vague about Avram’s destination, and not naming the country, G’d may have hinted that Avram should move to any country which circumstances would indicate as a suitable destination for him. Hence, when he came to Eretz Yisrael and shortly thereafter a famine struck that land, he reasoned that it was time for him to move further south, to Egypt where there was no famine. This is the meaning of 12,10 ויהי רעב בארץ וירד אברם מצרימה כי כבד הרעב בארץ, “It was that when a famine broke out in the land, Avram descended to Egypt as the famine in the land was severe.” He took the outbreak of the famine as a sign from G’d not to remain in the land of Canaan, but to move on. He was convinced that he acted in accordance with G’d’s wishes.
The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.
~ Frederick Buechner
עוד יבואר, ויאמר יי אל אברם לך לך מארצך, כי זה כלל גדול לכל מקום שאדם הולך הוא הולך לשורשו, כי בוודאי באותו המקום יש שרשו וצריך להעלות אותן הנצוצות לזה אמר לך לך לבדך לשרשך להעלות אותן הנצוצות...
Concerning G’d’s adding that Avram was to move away from his birthplace etc., מארצך, ממולדך, G’d made clear that contrary to the norm that when someone moves to a new place he generally has some roots there already and he will be accompanied by “the sparks” in this instance G’d told Avram that this move would be of a different dimension.
“Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
~Howard Thurman (20th Century Theologian)
Tony Kushner, Angels in America: Perestroika, Act 5, Scene 5
Prior: But still. Still
Bless me anyway.
I want more life. I can't help myself. I do.
I've lived through such terrible times, and there are people who live through much much worse, but...You see them living anyway.
When they're more spirit than body, more sores than skin, when they're burned and in agony, when flies lay eggs in the corners of the eyes of their children, they live. Death usually has to take life away. I don't know if that's just the animal. I don't know if it's not braver to die. But I recognize the habit. The addiction to being alive. We live past hope. If I can find hope anywhere, that's it, that's the best I can do. It's so much not enough, so inadequate, but...bless me anyway. I want more life.