"Wondering Jews"-what is Home and why do we keep leaving?

(2) From your land and from your birthplace - Rashi wrote: But did he he not already leave from there with his father? And Rabbi Abraham explained that God already said to Avram, ‘Go forth from your land,’ and so this is restating what was already said in Ur Kasdim, and it was there that He commanded him to leave his land, his birthplace, and his father’s house there. And this is not correct. Because if this were so, the point of the journey would be Avram’s leaving his father’s house on God’s command, and Terach would just be accompanying him out of his own personal desire. But the verse says, “Terach took Avram his son” (Gen. 11:31), which shows that Avram was following his father, and it was his father’s idea that they leave Ur Kasdim to go to the land of Canaan. And furthermore, the verse (in Joshua 24:3) says, “I took your father, Abraham, across the river, and led him across the whole of the Land of Canaan,” where it should have said, “I took your father, Abraham, from Ur Kasdim, and led him across the whole of the Land of Canaan,” for it was from there he was taken and there he was commanded.

(1) אלה תלדות יעקב THESE ARE THE PROGENY OF JACOB וישב AND HE ABODE —

Jacob wished to live at ease, but this trouble in connection with Joseph suddenly came upon him. When the righteous wish to live at ease, the Holy one, blessed be He), says to them: “Are not the righteous satisfied with what is stored up for them in the world to come that they wish to live at ease in this world too! (Genesis Rabbah 84:3)

(1) In the days when the chieftains ruled, there was a famine in the land; and a man of Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the country of Moab. (2) The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and his two sons were named Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. They came to the country of Moab and remained there. (3) Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. (4) They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth, and they lived there about ten years. (5) Then those two—Mahlon and Chilion—also died; so the woman was left without her two sons and without her husband. (6) She started out with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab; for in the country of Moab she had heard that the LORD had taken note of His people and given them food. (7) Accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, she left the place where she had been living; and they set out on the road back to the land of Judah. (8)

(1) When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Walk in My ways and be blameless. (2) I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous.” (3) Abram threw himself on his face; and God spoke to him further, (4) “As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You shall be the father of a multitude of nations. (5) And you shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I make you the father of a multitude of nations. (6) I will make you exceedingly fertile, and make nations of you; and kings shall come forth from you.

(15) And God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. (16) I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she shall give rise to nations; rulers of peoples shall issue from her.”

(1) ותקח שרי AND (SARAI TOOK (2) מקץ עשר שנים AFTER [ABRAM HAD DWELT] TEN YEARS — the period appointed for a woman who has lived with her husband for ten years without having borne children to him when he is bound to take another. (3) 'לשבת אברם וגו [TEN YEARS] AFTER ABRAHAM HAD DWELT IN THE LAND OF CANAAN — As Abraham had been married to Sarah before he entered Canaan this statement virtually informs us that the period he dwelt outside the land was not to be included in the number of these ten years (Yevamot 64a), for the promise, “And I will make of thee a great nation” was made to him with the intention of being fulfilled only after he had come into the land of Israel.

(2) As Balaam looked up and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the spirit of God came upon him.

(5) How fair are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel! (6) Like palm-groves that stretch out, Like gardens beside a river, Like aloes planted by the LORD, Like cedars beside the water; (7) Their boughs drip with moisture, Their roots have abundant water.

(1) A psalm. A song; for the sabbath day.

(13) The righteous bloom like a date-palm; they thrive like a cedar in Lebanon; (14) planted in the house of the LORD, they flourish in the courts of our God.

(11) Take care lest you forget the LORD your God and fail to keep His commandments, His rules, and His laws, which I enjoin upon you today. (12) When you have eaten your fill, and have built fine houses to live in, (13) and your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold have increased, and everything you own has prospered, (14) beware lest your heart grow haughty and you forget the LORD your God—who freed you from the land of Egypt, the house of bondage; (15) who led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its seraph serpents and scorpions, a parched land with no water in it, who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock; (16) who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers had never known, in order to test you by hardships only to benefit you in the end— (17) and you say to yourselves, “My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.” (18) Remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to get wealth, in fulfillment of the covenant that He made on oath with your fathers, as is still the case.