Parashat Lech-Lecha
November 2, 2022
Ariel Menashe, High School Hebrew/Talmud Teacher
Last week, in Parashat Noach, we read that just after the flood was over and the rainbow appeared in the sky, the people of Babel tried to challenge God’s rule by building a tower to heaven. God scattered them from there and confounded the speech of the whole earth, and so began the new version of the world, with diverse ways of living, speaking, and thinking. What a confusing world it must have been! Avraham Avinu was born into this reality. This week’s parashah, Lech-Lecha, starts with a clear statement from God to Abram:
לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ׃ וְאֶֽעֶשְׂךָ֙ לְג֣וֹי גָּד֔וֹל וַאֲבָ֣רֶכְךָ֔ וַאֲגַדְּלָ֖ה שְׁמֶ֑ךָ וֶהְיֵ֖ה בְּרָכָֽה׃ וַאֲבָֽרְכָה֙ מְבָ֣רְכֶ֔יךָ וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ֖ אָאֹ֑ר וְנִבְרְכ֣וּ בְךָ֔ כֹּ֖ל מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥ת הָאֲדָמָֽה׃” — “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 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. I will bless those who bless you And curse the one who curses you; And all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.”
Why does God choose Avram to be his torch bearer in the world? Of all the people in the world at the time, why him? How did Avram become the father of monotheism in our world?
Of course, many different answers have been written to these questions, but the Midrash on Bereshit Rabbah suggests that it was Avram’s keen understanding of justice that made him the perfect fit for this new, diverse world.
What happened with Abraham our father was similar. He said, “Is it possible that this universe lacks a person to look after it? The Holy Blessed One looked at him and said to him, ‘I am the Master of the Universe.'”
According to the midrash, Avraham looks at the beautiful, rich world that God created, and yet he also sees the lack of order, morality, and justice among the people who live in it. Avraham cannot understand why someone would create such an amazing world but would not look after it, letting his castle catch on flames. According to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l, the answer that the midrash suggests — “I am the Master of the Universe” — is a call from God to Avraham: “I need your help!”
This is strange to read. How could God, the Almighty, need a human’s help?
At this point in history, after a few failed attempts at creation, God finally needed human partnership. When God created the world, He gave us the freedom to make our own decisions without intervention. We have the freedom to choose between good and bad. Without that freedom we are robots, hardly models of “b’tzelem Elohim,” the image of God that is in each of us. But with that freedom comes the potential for danger and injustice.
While God didn’t intervene in the decisions of Adam and Eve, nor in those of the generation of the flood, this moment, after the Tower of Babel, was different. If the world was going to survive past the flood, God would need human help, and Avraham was the perfect person to rely upon. Avraham would be the first one to stand up against injustice and the corrupt society that surrounded him. In a world of darkness, Avraham would be the one to bring the light. He would make his own decisions, by himself, like every other person in the world, but he would choose to fight for a moral and just world. This, in my view, is why God chose Avraham Avinu.
This week, Israeli citizens went to vote for the fifth time in three years. We can only hope that all of us, we and our elected representatives, make the right decisions to bring more of Avraham Avinu’s light into our world. Or as the wonderful Israeli musician Amir Dadon wrote in his song לבחור נכון (“To Make the Right Choice”):
מתי אלמד לבחור נכון
להאמין, לראות שטוב
בלי להביט שוב לאחור
לבחור נכון
When will I learn to make the right choice
To believe, to see the good
Without looking back again
And make the right choice?
With Avraham’s model, we can all learn to make the right choices. The world, and even the Almighty, need us today more than ever.
לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ׃ וְאֶֽעֶשְׂךָ֙ לְג֣וֹי גָּד֔וֹל וַאֲבָ֣רֶכְךָ֔ וַאֲגַדְּלָ֖ה שְׁמֶ֑ךָ וֶהְיֵ֖ה בְּרָכָֽה׃ וַאֲבָֽרְכָה֙ מְבָ֣רְכֶ֔יךָ וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ֖ אָאֹ֑ר וְנִבְרְכ֣וּ בְךָ֔ כֹּ֖ל מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥ת הָאֲדָמָֽה׃” — “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 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. I will bless those who bless you And curse the one who curses you; And all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.”
Why does God choose Avram to be his torch bearer in the world? Of all the people in the world at the time, why him? How did Avram become the father of monotheism in our world?
Of course, many different answers have been written to these questions, but the Midrash on Bereshit Rabbah suggests that it was Avram’s keen understanding of justice that made him the perfect fit for this new, diverse world.
“Rabbi Yitzchak said: this may be compared to a man who was traveling from place to place when he saw a castle aglow. He said, ‘Is it possible that this castle lacks a person to look after it?’ The owner of the building looked at him and said to him, ‘I am the master of the castle.'”
What happened with Abraham our father was similar. He said, “Is it possible that this universe lacks a person to look after it? The Holy Blessed One looked at him and said to him, ‘I am the Master of the Universe.'”
According to the midrash, Avraham looks at the beautiful, rich world that God created, and yet he also sees the lack of order, morality, and justice among the people who live in it. Avraham cannot understand why someone would create such an amazing world but would not look after it, letting his castle catch on flames. According to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l, the answer that the midrash suggests — “I am the Master of the Universe” — is a call from God to Avraham: “I need your help!”
This is strange to read. How could God, the Almighty, need a human’s help?
At this point in history, after a few failed attempts at creation, God finally needed human partnership. When God created the world, He gave us the freedom to make our own decisions without intervention. We have the freedom to choose between good and bad. Without that freedom we are robots, hardly models of “b’tzelem Elohim,” the image of God that is in each of us. But with that freedom comes the potential for danger and injustice.
While God didn’t intervene in the decisions of Adam and Eve, nor in those of the generation of the flood, this moment, after the Tower of Babel, was different. If the world was going to survive past the flood, God would need human help, and Avraham was the perfect person to rely upon. Avraham would be the first one to stand up against injustice and the corrupt society that surrounded him. In a world of darkness, Avraham would be the one to bring the light. He would make his own decisions, by himself, like every other person in the world, but he would choose to fight for a moral and just world. This, in my view, is why God chose Avraham Avinu.
This week, Israeli citizens went to vote for the fifth time in three years. We can only hope that all of us, we and our elected representatives, make the right decisions to bring more of Avraham Avinu’s light into our world. Or as the wonderful Israeli musician Amir Dadon wrote in his song לבחור נכון (“To Make the Right Choice”):
מתי אלמד לבחור נכון
להאמין, לראות שטוב
בלי להביט שוב לאחור
לבחור נכון
When will I learn to make the right choice
To believe, to see the good
Without looking back again
And make the right choice?
With Avraham’s model, we can all learn to make the right choices. The world, and even the Almighty, need us today more than ever.