Parshas Lech Lecha, 5780

In this week's parsha, Parshas Lech Lecha, HaShem gives Avram the famous command that this parsha is named for. To bring in some context, at the end of last week's parsha, Avraham-then Avram- and his family settle in Charan and then his father, Terach, dies. Then we get to this week's parsha and Avraham is told to uproot himself and his wife, Sarai, and leave. No directions, no reason why, just go. The only rationale that Avraham gets is the word לְךָ֛. What does לְךָ֛ mean?

How could it be that leaving his hometown to wander with no direction was for his benefit? The answer lies in the next passuk.

HaShem tells Avraham that if he goes, then he will become a great nation, and HaShem will bless him and make his name great, and it will be a blessing. Rashi says that

וֶהְיֵ֖ה בְּרָכָֽה means that Avraham wll have the power to give brachos, a power that no human being has possessed up until now. Wow! That's a pretty big reward- all that because Avraham went?

The fact that Avraham went, no questions asked, is incredible and a level we shoud all aspire to, but perhpas it's the rest of the command that warranted this level of reward. The passuk ends, " אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ׃", "To the land that I will show you." What a command- where does one even begin? Left, right or straight?

Avraham wasn't deterred by this- he needed one word, just לֶךְ, and that was enough for him. He trusted in HaShem to lead him in the right direction.

How does this connect to us? Personally, I found two different messages I would like to talk about, two different situations where we can gain chizuk and inspiration from this.

Baruch HaShem, most of us haven't had to physically move away from everything we've ever known. There are times, though, where we feel like we're supposed to be moving, to be doing something, but we don't know what. There are times in our lives that are supposed to be conducive to growth, but we aren't sure where to begin. In moments like that, we need to understand the message of לֶךְ. Just go, just start. Where do we go? That's the message of אַרְאֶֽךָּ, "I will show you". If we trust in HaShem and the precious guidebook he gave us, the Torah, then we can be sure of Divine assistance. It's just as the Gemara in Makkos says: "בדרך שאדם רוצה לילך בה מוליכין אותו". HaShem helps people along the paths they want to go on.

In times like these we need to believe that HaShem loves us and we need to actively look to see His involvement in our lives. Even if we can't see it, we need to internalize the insight of the Kotzker Rebbe zt"l, who believed that "Faith is clearer than vision." We might not always see HaShem looking out for us, but we need to have faith that He is.

There are other times where we actually know what we need to do but can't get on board with it. Maybe it's a halacha, maybe it's a hashkafa or mussar concept, but sometimes things just don't make sense. Then, we need to hear the message of לְךָ֛. We need to believe that everything HaShem and our Chachamim tell us to do is for our benefit, even if we don't understand how it's possible.

In the words of the Alter of Novardok, R' Yosef Yozel Horowitz, zt"l: "Man wants to believe in himself and understand God, when in fact he should believe in God and understand himself." We won't always understand the reasoning behind mitzvos, but we need to try and resolve the conflict in our minds by really ingraining it in our hearts that HaShem only wants what's best for us.

When we are able to internalize the messages of אראך & ,לְךָ , לֶךְ, and we can tap into the powers that Avraham left in our spiritual DNA, then we can access the flow of blessing HaShem wants to send our way, וֶהְיֵ֖ה בְּרָכָֽה.

The learning from this sheet should be l'ilui nishmas Moshe ben Menachem, Shmuel Shmelke ben haRav Moshe, and Raizel bas Moshe Zev.