Physical Journeys
Talk about my journey from Bushey - NW to the E - Redbridge and compare with Avraham's journey from the East, Ur Cassdim, via Haran to Shechem, Elon Moreh.
667 miles from Ur Casdim (Iraq) to Haran (Syria) - walking time 216 hours (i.e. 18 days - walking 12 hours a day)
511 miles from Haran to Shechem - walking time 168 hours (i.e 14 days - walking 12 hours a day)
My home in Bushey to Sinclair House - 21.2 miles - approx. 7 hours walk!
Coming eastwards to Redbridge - closer to the Kotel! (Redbridge 2,870 miles vs 2,888 miles from Bushey)
The Jews are always on a journey....
Forced journeys
1) Avraham - Ur to Canaan
2)Yaakov - Canaan to Haran
3) Yosef + family Canann to Egypt
4) Bnei Yisrael - Egypt to Canaan - journeys in the desert over 38 years
5) 10 Tribes - Northern Israel to Assyria - Tiglath Pilezer III (734), Shalmenser V and Sargon II (724) and
Sargon II to Media (Persia) - 716
6) Nebuchanezzer, Babylonian exile - 586 - back to Iraq
7) Rest of Jewish History - journeys from country to country
Spiritual Journeys
Rabbi Lord Sacks [Covenant and Conversation 2015]
"It turns out, in other words, that Abraham left his father's house long after he had left his land and birthplace. His birthplace was in Ur, but he only separated from his father in Harran. Terach, Abraham's father, accompanied him for the first half of the journey. He went with his son at least part of the way.
What actually happened? There are two possibilities:
The first is that Abram received his calling from Gd in UR. His father agreed to go with him , intending to accompany him to the land of Canaan, though he didn't complete the journey, perhaps because of age.
The second is that the call came over to Abraham in Harran, in which case his father had already begun his journey on his initiative by leaving Ur"...did Abraham continue a journey that had been started by his father?
Stephnie's Journey - from childhood to now - through Aish)
Operation Moses (8000 in 1984) and Operation Solomon (15000 in 1991)
Operation Moses in 1984. In that time, many of the Ethiopian Jews made a journey from Ethiopia to Sudan, to many places like Gadive and many people lost their lives on the ways. camps, refugee camps in Sudan, they had to stay there for many, many years until they were lifted to Israel. In those refugee camps you have many people from different continent. You have from, you know, you have Jews, Christians and Muslims and this story is a story of mothers; mothers that need to save children who didn’t commit any crime in this world. So through the character of nine years old boy, we understand the struggle of Ethiopian Jews and what they have been through in order to be in the Promised Land.
Marrying the spiritual and the physical journeys
(1) The LORD 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 the LORD had commanded him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. (5) Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan, (6) Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinth of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land.
(1) ואעשך לגוי גדול AND I WILL MAKE OF THEE A GREAT NATION —Since travelling is the cause of three things—it decreases (breaks up) family life, it reduces one’s wealth and lessens one’s renown, he therefore needed these three blessings: that God should promise him children, wealth and a great name (Genesis Rabbah 39:11). (2) ואברכך AND I WILL BLESS THEE —with wealth (Genesis Rabbah 39:11).
Conclusion
Connection with Shabbat UK - the physical and spiritual journeys we are taking today and the start of some of our own journeys to our "Promised land" - and with these, we also gain blessings, both in this world and the next.