TI Torah Study: Lech L'cha Just Go!

Summary (From ReformJuaism.org)

• Abram, Sarai, and Lot go to Canaan. (12:1-9)
• Famine takes them to Egypt, where Abram identifies Sarai as his sister in order to save his life. (12:10-20)
• Abram and Lot separate. Lot is taken captive, and Abram rescues him. (13:1-14:24)
• Abram has a son, Ishmael, with his Egyptian maidservant, Hagar. (16:1-16)
• God establishes a covenant with Abram. The sign of this covenant is circumcision on the eighth day following a male baby's birth. (17:1-27)

From the time that God said to our father Abraham, "Go from your land..." and "Abraham went on, journeying southward", began the process of birurim -- of extracting the sparks of holiness that are scattered throughout the universe and buried within the material existence.
By the decree of Divine providence, a person wanders about in his travels to those places where the sparks that are to be extracted by him await their redemption. The Cause of All Causes brings about the many circumstances and pretexts that bring a person to those places where his personal mission in life is to be acted out. - Rabbi Sholom DovBer of Lubavitch

For this is a great general principle: to every place that a person goes, he goes to his origin/source/roots, for of course in that very place lies his origin/source/roots and he needs to elevate them (the sparks) – to this is said “lech lecha” (i.e. go to yourself)- yourself to your origin/source/roots, to elevate them, the sparks… Kedushat Levi

"From your land" -- from your will (eretz, the Hebrew word for land, is etymologically related to the word ratzon--will). "From your birthplace" -- from your emotional and behavioral self (which is the product of a person's environment). "From your father's house" -- from your intellect (In the terminology of Kabbalah, the intellect is referred to as the father within man, since it is the progenitor of and authority over his feelings and behavior patterns). -The Chassidic Masters

Lech L’cha
by Andrea L. Weiss
Go forth on a journey.
Go by yourself:
Standing at a crossroads
You venture from the known to the unknown.
Some journeys must be made alone.
Go to yourself:
Spiral inward and unwrap your past
And your potential.
Remember that the soul which you have made
Is unique and holy.
Go for yourself:
Smell the fragrance
Which spreads across the land
As you roam and wander.
Refresh yourself
Under the tree which grows by a spring
At the side of the road.
Make your name great and
Make your life a blessing.

The first is a call to go out and leave the familiar – his family, his comfort zone, and his sense of stability. This is in order to leave behind whatever may hold him back and face the unknown potential and blessings that can come from following God’s path. As the commentator Or HaChayim teaches, “lecha” refers to the call to go to our best self, or as the Zohar says, it’s the challenge to get to know and fix ourselves. The second “lech lecha” is a call to sacrifice, to turn everything, even his child’s life, over to God. It’s a test of faith against instinct, a leap into the unknown, even into terror.
What’s the common thread? Both instances of “lech lecha” require that Avraham proactively face whatever comes next and make something meaningful out of it, even if he must transcend himself and his circumstances. - Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn

Abraham, at the start of his mission, was told to leave “his land, his birthplace and his father’s house,” to free himself from the pressure to conform. Leaders must be prepared not to follow the consensus. One of the great writers on leadership, Warren Bennis, writes: “By the time we reach puberty, the world has shaped us to a greater extent than we realise. Our family, friends, and society in general have told us – by word and example – how to be. But people begin to become leaders at that moment when they decide for themselves how to be.” - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

And I will make you into a great nation: Since traveling causes three things: 1) it diminishes procreation, 2) it diminishes money, and 3) it diminishes fame (lit. name), therefore, he required these three blessings, namely that He blessed him concerning children, concerning money, and concerning fame. (Other editions: And this is the meaning of and I will aggrandize your name. I will add a letter to your name, for until now, your name was אַבְרם From now on [your name will be] אַבְרהָם, and אַבְרהָם equals 248, corresponding to a person’s limbs. (Found in an old Rashi . — [from Gen. Rabbah 39:11; Tan. Buber, Chaye Sarah 6) - Rashi

The blessing of God is that God will be happy with Avraham’s actions. As our Rabbis say (in tractate Brachot): “My son Yishmael blessed Me saying “May it be the will of God that Your rachamim cover over your other qualities.”” In the same way God said to Avraham, ‘You should be for Me a blessing, and in your understanding you will attain perfection and teach the people your wisdom.” - Sforno
**Note: In this section of the Mishanh, one of the high priests has come before God in the Tabernacle to plead on behalf of the people. He pleads to God to hold back His anger from the People. Yishmael is giving God a “blessing” as request/demand for God to act in a certain way. According to Sforno, God is similarly requiring/commanding that Avraham act in a certain way. ​​​​​​​

You will be the blessing by whom people will be blessed, saying, “God make thee as Avraham.” To this He added that “all the families of the earth” will mention him in blessing, not just the people of his country alone. It may be that the expression “And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed,” means that they will be blessed on his account. - Ramban

God’s summon to Abram huyay berachah to be a blessing is addressed to each and every one of his descendants. Think of it this way. Every soul is a complex assembly of puzzle pieces, some souls with more pieces than others, some souls more difficult to assemble than others. But no soul is ever complete in and of itself. At birth we are all nearly but not yet complete. Borei nefashot rabot v’heshbonam. We all have deficiencies. No one has within him or herself all the pieces to their puzzle. And everyone carries within them at least one and probably many pieces needed for someone else’s puzzle. Sometimes they know it. Sometimes they don’t. But when you present that piece which may be insignificant to you but essential to them, whether they know it or not, whether you know it or not, that is when you have fulfilled the command heyay berachah, be the blessing. -Rabbi David Whiman

Abraham is without doubt the most influential person who ever lived. Today he is claimed as the spiritual ancestor of 2.3 billion Christians, 1.8 billion Muslims and 14 million Jews, more than half the people alive today. Yet he ruled no empire, commanded no great army, performed no miracles and proclaimed no prophecy. He is the supreme example in all of history of influence without power.
Why? Because he was prepared to be different. As the Sages say, he was called ha-ivri, “the Hebrew,” because “all the world was on one side (be-ever echad) and he was on the other”. Leadership, as every leader knows, can be lonely. Yet you continue to do what you have to do because you know that the majority is not always right and conventional wisdom is not always wise. Dead fish go with the flow. Live fish swim against the current. So it is with conscience and courage. So it is with the children of Abraham. They are prepared to challenge the idols of the age. - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

I wonder what Abram heard. We know what God said, lech l’cha, you go. But what did he hear? Did he hear words, phrases, fragments of words like the whisper that sometimes comes to you when you are quiet enough to pay attention. Or perhaps it was like a tug in your heart, a sensation, an invitation to take a step, one step away. Or maybe he had a dream that was so real that he woke with a start and knew what he had to do. There was no hesitation, no conversation, no wavering. Abram said nothing, asked nothing. With clarity and faith, he was compelled into motion.
Abram was called -- called upon to leave all that he knew, to discover a new way of being in the world, to evolve into a leader, a visionary a man who hears the will of God and aligns himself with the Creator. The 19th-century Chassidic master and biblical commentator Sfat Emet imagines that God’s call to Abram was a call toward greater and consequential purpose: Now surely [each] person was created for a particular purpose. There must be something we are set to right. We are all called to live in alignment with our life’s purpose. This is at once comforting and confounding. We want what Abram was promised, a life that is abundant with blessing. We are all called into being. There is a myriad of possibilities to self-actualize, to discover our purpose, to have a meaningful life, to impact our world, making it safer and more compassionate. - Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar