Lech L'chah 5782

(1) The Holy One said to Abram, “Go forth from your birth land and from your parent's house to the land that I will show you.

An additional meaning of the instruction to Abraham to "go for yourself," is not so much that he was to be alone but that he was to benefit spiritually by this migration. Although man's success in this world does not depend on the amount of effort he invests in his material progress as we know from Psalms 75,7: "for what lifts a man comes not from the east or the west or the wilderness of hills;" our sages say that every time the word הרים, mountains appears in the Bible it means mountains except in this instance. In Psalms 75,7 the word describes a spiritual uplift. ...

(9) .... Accordingly, the meaning of the word אראך is both: "I will show it (the land) to you," and: "I will show you to it (the land)." One will not achieve its full potential without the other.

(14) And the Holy One said to Abram, after Lot had parted from him, “Raise your eyes and look out from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west, (15) for I give all the land that you see to you and your offspring forever. (16) I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring too can be counted.

(5) The Holy One took him (Avram) outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And G*d added, “So shall your offspring be.”