Lekh Lekha is a strange commandment.  It means "go for yourself, or go to yourself."  The verb "go" is from halakh , which also means to walk.  When we look to the first mentions of words for context, it was the interior river of Eden that "walked," or "went" in its circle around the Tree of Life.  That raises Avram's commandment to a whole new prophetic level!  When a child leaves his father's house, he or she must walk out a personal faith.  This includes all the rewards of faith, but also the tests of the heart.

Avram and Sarai were doing a great job in Haran: being hospitable, preaching monotheism, and "making souls," which included 318 trained men of war.  If they were doing such a good job blooming where they were planted outside the Promised Land, why did they need to go inside it?  

No matter what our tests and wonderful words to lost souls outside the Land, they cannot compare to the final personal purification that can only take place inside the Land, an increased level of holiness.  Ironically, it looks as though Avram and Sarai failed more often than not inside the Land; however, a failure inside the Land is part of a personal purification that could not occur outside it.  (See last week's newsletter for explanation if you missed it)  Those failures are still at a higher level of holiness than Haran's success stories.

So out of all the wonderful things we investigated in the Torah portion this week, let's focus on a connection rarely made.  A thread in Lekh Lekha continues from an odd song in Bereishit and the "days of Noach."  Marriage. Holiness.

Let's start with a question.  It's post-Flood, post-Babel.  Where is Shem, the guardian of righteousness in the earth?   Shem's lifespan overlaps those of the three  patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Scripture doesn't say exactly where the person Shem (Name) settled after the Flood and the Dispersion of Babel.  A person named "Name" might go to The Place where  HaShem  put His Name.   Tradition says Shem went to  Shalem . He is identified with  Malkhi-Tzedek , who brought out bread and wine to celebrate Abraham's bringing of tithes to  Shalem .  A tithe is brought to The Place, and blessing goes from there to the nations.

Once in the Land, Avraham has a specific place to bring his tithes, Shalem, and a proto-priest is in place, Malkhi-Tzedek, possibly Shem, a teacher of righteousness.  Although the Torah only mentions one trip to Shalem, I suspect that there was at least an annual pilgrimage.

Tradition tells us that all three patriarchs learned from Shem.  If so, it's a great picture of moving the family not to a place with great economic opportunity, but to a place with a good  spiritual  opportunity to learn.  What are great riches in Sodom?

Chazal had a tradition that  Malkhi-Tzedek  was really Shem, son of  Noach , and that  Shalem  was an earlier form of the name Jerusalem ( Targum Onkelos ).  The first part of the name was added later when Avraham called the place ' HaShem  Yir'eh  ( Bereishit  22:14).

Why Israel, and why Jerusalem?  There is a perfecting process that takes place there, likely the reason that an olah offering (a "going-up" resurrection offering) is paired with the shlamim (perfections, completeness) offering.  We want to go up "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." (Ja 1:4)  The sages comment about this "perfected" person:

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person . ( Ec  12:13)

12:13  סֹוף דָּבָר  הַכֹּל נִשְׁמָע  אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים יְרָא  וְאֶת־מִצְוֹתָיו שְׁמֹור  כִּי־זֶה כָּל־הָאָדָֽם ׃

This is what Shabbos 30b calls " adam  ha-shaleim ," the perfected man.   D'Bei  Eliyahu  says, "The central purpose of creation is for the exalted man who fulfills his obligation to rise to the level of the  avot (patriarchs) .

In the Land of Israel was where the blessings and promises to Avram and Sarai would be realized as Avraham and Sarah, a mother and father of souls not just outside the Land, but inside it.  Souls that would endure in faith. Abraham and Sarah's great household of converted souls had disappeared by the time the tribes went down to Egypt.  Although they failed miserably at their tests inside the Land, those tribes developed a faith that was able to endure outside of it until Moses was raised up to lead them back to the Land.

Avraham built altars in key locations, such as between Beth-El and Ai (likely also Jacob's "gateway" to Heaven), Hebron, Mount Moriah, etc.  Each of these locations represent an aspect of holiness, a doorway to the upper realm of the Garden.  It requires an eye of prophecy to see what is there, for it will not be the natural beauty of the location.   There is only one place where a human being reaches absolute perfection. The place.   Go for yourself.  Go TO yourself.  Yourself is Jerusalem of Gold, perfected to live in the Land of Havila in the Garden, a place for "Good Gold."

Avraham demonstrates that it is love, not logic, that leads us to Jerusalem where the physical Land intersects the spiritual Land.   Avraham didn't stop rescuing people or loving them just because he went for himself to Canaan.  He continued doing what he'd been doing outside the Land: loving, being hospitable, interceding for mercy, warring against idols.    He still loves those outside his immediate circle of faith, yet his "faith child," his "love child" is conceived inside the Land of Israel.  

Avraham had to go for "himself."  Himself was Sarah. Above. Spiritual.  The trees and field stood up when he purchased the Cave of  Machpelah for her  in Hebron.   Not Hagar.  Hagar was outside himself.  Below. She and her son were loved, but driven to the outskirts of Israel.  Physical. Ishmael became an archer.  A hunter.  Like Edom.  Like Lemech.  

But you, Israel, My servant , Jacob  whom I have  chosen, descendant  of Abraham who loved me ... (Is 41:8)

41:8  וְאַתָּה יִשְׂרָאֵל עַבְדִּי יַעֲקֹב אֲשֶׁר בְּחַרְתִּיךָ זֶרַע אַבְרָהָם  אֹהֲבִֽי׃

The Father chooses those who love Him.  It affects their descendants, their offspring.  To find the unity of love that would produce Isaac, Avraham had to go to himself.  Sarah.

God  created man in His own image, in the image of God 

He created  him ; male and female He created  them . ( Ge  1:27)

So is it  " him " or  " them " ?

Yes .

God blessed  them ; and God said to  them ,  " Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and  subdue it; and rule  over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth. " ( Ge  1:28)

In the beginning, the  sceptre  of ruling the Creation was given to " them ."   

Together the first couple were to minister by upholding the Word.  But what about the curse ?

Short answer:  Did  Yeshua  die to keep us under the curse?   Do you not expect to be resurrected?  Do you not expect to live a life of increasing holiness with the power of the Ruach HaKodesh?  Yeshua is in the process of restoring all things, not nailing down the curses tighter.  Yeshua answers marriage matters with the "Beginning":

And He answered and said,  " Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said,  ' FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE  JOINED  TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME 

ONE FLESH ' ?  So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate . "   They said to Him,  " Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY? " He said to them,  " Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives;  but from the beginning it has not been this way . ( Mt 19:4-8)

Just because the Scripture PERMITS something to prevent a worse loss of "life," or because it DOCUMENTS that something happened, doesn't mean it's the ideal or suggesting you should do that, too.  But from the beginning mankind has been permitted to "hang himself" with self-serving applications:

They  said to Him,  " Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY? "  He said to them,  " Because of your hardness of heart Moses  permitted  you to divorce your wives;  but from the beginning it has not been this way ." 

The Father is wise enough to work through us in spite of our foolery, but He expects us to improve in holiness and righteousness, not persist in self-worship and making His Word an application of utilitarianism.  Another example is slavery.  Scripture documents it and even regulates it, but Elohim created  no human slaves in the beginning .  

Saul fell on his sword.

Judas hung himself.

"Go thou and do likewise?"

Some examples are to follow.  Some are examples of what NOT to imitate.

Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness  who  seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug.  Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain ; when he was but one I called him , then  I blessed him  and multiplied  him . " (Is 51:1-2). 

Who is  " him " ?  Abraham or Sarah?  

Yes.  A rock and a quarry are made of the same material, just different in form and function.  Lest we think the blessing is to "him" singular, consider:

Her Blessing:

"As for Sarai your  wife , you shall not call her name Sarai, but  Sarah  shall be her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a  mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her ."  (Ge 12:15-16)

His Blessing

"As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be  the father of a multitude of   nations .  No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you  the father of a multitude of nations .  I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will  make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you ." (Ge 17:4-6)

So was the covenant with Abraham, or Abraham and Sarah?

Yes.

Now let's look at two important prophecies in Bereishit and Noach.

" Lamech  took to himself two wives: the name of the one was  Adah , and the name of the other,  Zillah ." (Ge 4:19)

After the ideal beginning creation of two being one,  Lamech is the first who  breaks the pattern and takes two wives. Jewish tradition does not treat this "first mention" as a positive example.  Instead,  Rashi  comments harshly, pointing out the Hebrew wording:

4:19  וַיִּֽקַּֽח־לֹו  לֶמֶךְ  שְׁתֵּי נָשִׁים שֵׁם הָֽאַחַת  עָדָה וְשֵׁם הַשֵּׁנִית  צִלָּֽה ׃

Lamech  takes two wives "to himself."   Whereas  Avram  was told to "go for yourself,"  Lamech  takes two wives "to himself."  It implies little or no consideration for the one taken.  It's utilitarian.  Self-serving.   Rashi  says Adah was hated, while Zillah was loved.

עָדָה -  Adah means "ornament, something beautiful"

  צִלָּֽה - Tzillah  means "his shadow"

Concerning "two wives,"  Rashi  writes:

"Such was their practice of the Generation of the Flood, to have two wives, one for procreation, and one for conjugal relations, [her husband] would give her to drink a cup of roots, a contraceptive potion concocted from roots, so that she would become sterile.  She would be adorned like a bride, and [her husband] would feed her delicacies, while her colleague, the other wife, would be scorned as if she were a widow.  This is the situation Job described in the verse, 'He lets graze the sterile one who will not give birth, but the widow, i.e., the scorned wife, he does not treat well,' as explained in the  aggadic  section of  Cheilek ." -  Rashi  to Ge 4:19.

R ecall the Israelites at Sinai. They were told to take off their " adi ," or ornaments, for violating their covenant with Adonai.  They were spiritually ugly.  Adah had the true beauty, ornamented with  faithfulness to her husband .   Tzillah  was the preferred wife, who served  Lamech's  sexual desire and maintained her physical beauty for him alone.  She stayed in his "shadow," preferred.  She reflected  Lamech's  desires.  It was a type of idolatry, "to himself," not an elevation of the Beginning "to himself" in covenant faithfulness.  

Notice the comparison between Israel and the rejected first wife:

"This  is  another  thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the  offering  or accepts it with favor from your hand.  Yet  you say, 'For what reason?'  Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by  covenant .  But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit , and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth.  For I  hate  divorce ," says the LORD, the God of Israel, "and  him  who covers his garment with  wrong ," says the LORD of hosts. " So take heed to your spirit,that you do not deal treacherously ." (Malachi 2:13-16)

When the first wife's childbearing years were over, or she became ruined in body from multiple births and hard work, some men went so far as to divorce them or simply send them away without support.  He had married her to bear children, and "build up his name" through male descendants, but she was simply the breeder.  Malachi points out that this treachery is a SPIRITUAL problem.  You can't bring an offering to the altar with such wickedness as a garment.  A marriage garment to the Holy One is faithfulness to His commandments.

Notice the Flood Generation context, Isaiah's reference, for it was the Flood Generation marked by multiple wives:

"For  your husband is your Maker , Whose  name is the LORD of hosts ; and  your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel , Who  is called the God of all the  earth. For  the LORD has called  you,  like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one's youth when she is rejected ," s ays your  God. "For  a brief moment I forsook  you, but  with great compassion I will gather  you. In  an  outburst  of  anger, I  hid My face from you for a  moment, but  with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you ," says  the LORD your  Redeemer."  For this is like the days of Noah to Me, when I swore that the waters of Noah would not flood the earth  again..." (Is 54:5-9)

A holy people are marked by holy marriages, oneness to accomplish spiritual purposes of YHVH, not personal agendas of many children and the most beautiful of sexual partners, no matter how many wives or infidelities is takes to obtain them.  Unlike the men of the Flood, Adonai uses the example as a temporary rejection, based on Israel's faithless behavior.  He will have compassion upon her again, for He does not want to reject Israel, the wife of youth:

Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the L

ORD ,  "I remember concerning you the  devotion of your youth, t he love of your betrothals, y our following after Me in the wilderness, t hrough a  land   not   sown ." (Je 2:2)

Judaism perceives the first mention of Lemech's two wives a dangerous precedent, a warning. Sages point out that even though Jacob was tricked into having multiple wives, the practice was condemned in the Torah. The "breeder" craved affection and the "beauty" craved children.  The evidence of the  rivalry  is written in the history of Israel:

You shall not  marry  a woman in addition to  her  sister  as a rival  while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness . (Le 18:18)

It's not just that a man shouldn't marry sisters, he shouldn't create rivalries in a marriage.  Two are one.  This doesn't mean just in marriage, but with his friendships and family.  His wife should never be put in a position of rivalry with his family or friends, competing for time and attention.  The reason for this, as Malachi prophesied, is a spiritual application of the Body of Messiah:

Then  at last the jealousy between  Israel  and Judah will end . They  will not be rivals anymore . (Is 11:13)  

In other words, they will be one, Adah, the ornamented Bride AND  Tzillah , in the image and shadow of the Most High.  Unity.  One nation.  One people. One covenant.

Two wives do more than break the perfection of Creation.  It creates RIVALS.  Like so many other things in Scripture, just because some did it, it doesn't mean we should do it!  Even Levirate marriage had limitations and escape clauses (another lesson).

The first wife, the companion of one's youth, symbolizes the Holy Spirit working in a man's life and family.  The beauty of the Spirit will not fade with age:

Say to wisdom, "You are my sister ," and  call understanding your intimate  friend... ( Pr 7:4)

Wisdom is chokhmah and understanding binah, the first two of the Seven Spirits of Adonai listed in Isaiah.  If you've completed Creation Gospel Workbook One, you know that it is identified with first love and house-building.

Which is the 'real' wife from a Torah perspective?  Apparently, the answer is both.  The merger of the two images creates the unified picture of the whole woman.  To divide the roles is to objectify women based on utility; this is not the ideal to which the Torah ascribes, nor the ideal toward which mankind is meant to strive. A wife, a partner, a helpmate, a soul mate, is both a mother and a lover." (Rabbi A. Kahn,  Eden:Bereishit , p. 43)

Ironically, a First Century person called the "firstborn of Satan" was a Pharisee from the House of Shammai who married two wives.  The other Pharisees condemned him for such a blatant disregard of the Spirit of the Torah. Hmmm.

Esau (Edom) was another who took two wives:

When Esau was forty years old he  married  Judith the daughter of  Beeri  the Hittite, and  Basemath  the daughter of Elon the Hittite;  and  they  brought  grief  to Isaac and Rebekah . (Ge 26:34-35)

Two wives in the same year, perhaps at the same time, without parental permission.   Grief .  And not good grief.  Esau the Hunter is the iconic " Red One " of Scripture, red and hairy all over like a beast.  At the mercy of his appetite, emotion, desire, and intellect.  Like the most cunning beast of the field, this hunter will bend the Word to his own will.  In spite of her role, Zillah did conceive.  The children of the two women confirm the pattern.   The children of  Lamech  are prophecies, just like Abel and  Kain , Isaac and Ishmael, Edom and Israel:

Adah gave birth to  Jabal  (river, stream);  he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 

His  brother's name was  Jubal  (river, stream);  he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 

As  for Zillah, she also gave birth to  Tubal- kain  (acquisition)  the forger of all (sharp, cutting) implements of bronze and  iron... (Ge 4:20-22)

Rivers give life; those who live in tents study peacefully; shepherds guard the sheep; musicians make praise; sharp instruments kill and destroy.  Like his ancestor Kain, who introduced killing into the world, his descendent Tubal-kain gave the world the instruments to kill more effectively.  His father Lemech brags in a song about killing a man.

Edom's behavior mirrors the pre-Flood behavior, taking whomever he chose:

"...that  the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were  beautiful ; and  they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose ." (Ge 6:2)

"Whomever THEY chose."  Not whom the women chose.

Rebecca chose Isaac.  Rachel chose Jacob.  Freewill is how the Bridegroom wants to be chosen:   "But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham  who loved me ..." (Is 41:8 )  Covenant is not utilitarian. With the Creator of the Universe, it is love.

The hated wife and the loved wife.

The "breeder" and the "lover."

One gives prosperity and a good name, while the other gives pleasure.

Jerusalem above, Paul writes, is our love.   A good name and where we find pleasure are found in the same place.  Abraham went to Shalem where he would be perfected in holiness through the Spirit and resurrected through Messiah Yeshua:

Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law?  For  it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman .  But the son by the bondwoman  was  born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise.  This  is allegorically speaking, for  these women are two covenants:  one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children  who  are to be slaves;  she  is Hagar.  Now  this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.  But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. For it is written, "REJOICE, BARREN WOMAN WHO DOES NOT BEAR; BREAK FORTH AND SHOUT, YOU WHO ARE NOT IN LABOR; FOR MORE NUMEROUS ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE DESOLATE THAN OF THE ONE WHO HAS A HUSBAND."  And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise . But as at that time  he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit , so it is now also .  But what does the Scripture say ? " CAST OUT THE BONDWOMAN AND HER SON , FOR  THE SON OF THE BONDWOMAN SHALL NOT BE AN HEIR WITH THE SON OF THE FREE WOMAN." So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman,  but  of the free woman . (Ga 4:21-31)

At Sinai, Israel lost her marriage ornaments.  She did not have a LOVE relationship to the commandments.  When commandments are only utilitarian, then we will twist or discard them when they don't serve our self-worship.  When they are love, we are born from above.  In His image. Children of Sarah and Abraham.  

Although the class is broken into 4 major steps, there is a possibility that we will move faster than the predetermined curriculum if I deem it possible, and it is in the interest of the majority of students.   I am optimistic that every student who completes this 4 part class will be qualified to begin our first level of Hebrew course. 

The cost of the Alephbet course is $40, and the cost of the subsequent course, which is10 lessons, is $80/month, which means a total of $200.

I'm looking forward to learning with you! We hope to get started November 17th.  I will be available for questions at the email: [email protected].

Best, 

R. Shlomo Eitan