Parashat Lech-Lecha

November 8, 2024
7 Cheshvan 5785
PARASHAT LECH-LECHA
Genesis 12:1-17:27

Dear Friends,

Looking at this week’s Torah portion, I sought guidance at this moment in the world, where so much seems unmoored and chaotic. What I found gives me a sense of forward motion. This portion offers an affirmation that one can always learn something new and strive to become a better more loving human being, no matter how old one is. It is a message that I needed to find this week.

This week’s Torah portion, Genesis 12:1 -17:27, Lech Lecha (go forth), has the capacity to inspire us, if we stop and look carefully at the imperfect man, Abraham, at the center of our story. At age 75, he is told to “get up and go,” indeed “to leave your land, your birthplace, and your parent’s house and go to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). Abraham listens and does just that. He has his wife and nephew with him, and the three of them learn many lessons along the way.

What an opening salvo, what a way to begin the story of us. These aren’t youngsters starting fresh. The couple we are introduced to have already lived a full life, and here they are embarking on something completely different, all because Abraham has concluded that there is something bigger than himself in the universe. We do not know what Sarah thinks.

Does Abraham always do what we might consider the right thing? Certainly not. But given what he knows and who he is, he is doing his best. I will admit that I did not always view Abraham quite so generously, but youth is not always so generous in judging the behavior of others. What emerges is that our ancestors, both the men and women were fully human in their flawed behavior, create an opportunity for us to recognize ourselves in them. What is most inspiring about them is their ability to keep on going when faced with extremely difficult situations.

Coming to a new place, Abraham faces famine, a sojourn to Egypt where Pharaoh lusts after Sarah while Abraham says Sarah is his sister. The situation is solved through Divine intervention, and they ultimately leave Egypt wealthy. Abraham’s nephew, who sojourned with him partway, gets into a fight with local rulers, and Abraham rescues his nephew. Abraham has a child with his wife’s handmaiden because Sarah says she is too old to bear children. Ishmael is his first-born son, and as we come to the end of the Torah portion, we are told that Abraham and Sarah will have a child in Sarah’s old age. The Torah portion ends with the males in Abraham’s household being circumcised as an expression of their covenant with the Divine.

My brief overview does not even begin to unpack all that happens in this Torah portion. But what it does do is give us a sense of all that can happen in one’s life. More than that, it gives us a sense that going forward truly matters, and it is best when we are able to bring our best selves forward.

We are left with the question: do we have the kind of courage that Abraham displays to take a risk and not know how everything will turn out? In truth, there are never any guarantees that our actions will produce the results we wish for, but standing still and not acting is not the best option.

We have been given Abraham as an exemplar of one who takes risks, does not always get it right, but does his best to walk a path of righteousness. What more could we ask for in an exemplar, not perfection, but one who is willing to journey on and do his best? 

May we have the courage to do the same. Unlike Abraham who had only his family, we are blessed to be part of a community of people who do their best to support one another in the worst of times and in the best of times.

Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Linda Shriner-Cahn