(Please note: Kabbalat Shabbat/Maariv will be in person and Zoom this Friday evening at Shaarei Kodesh - I would love to see you in person, please join us!)
One of the many things I love about the Torah, and how we as Jews read it: one parashah at a time on a weekly basis. One would think that we would get ‘bored’ with reading the same stories over and over again, but the beauty of Torah is her timelessness. The Torah is the same, it never changes, but we change, and therefore her words impact each one of us differently depending on where we are in life. This is one of the reasons we say that there are seventy faces of Torah; the ways we can interpret Torah not only change with each passing year, but even with each person we learn with.
Lech Lecha is one of my favorite parshiot of the Torah, and although we are reading a new parashah this week, Vayera, I could not help but return again to those iconic words.
וַיֹּאמֶר יְי אֶל־אַבְרָם לֶךְ־לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ אֶל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ׃
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 … (Genesis 12:1)
If we just read the beginning of the parashah, without reading the end of the previous week’s parashah, we think that Avram, who will become the father of the Jewish people (along with Islam and Christianity), is introduced out of nowhere.
We know what happens next, Avram takes his entire family to the land of Cannan. But, I noticed something interesting in the previous week's parashah:
“Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan; but when they had come as far as Haran, they settled there.”
Avram actually completes the journey his father began.
This is the task of every generation of Jews; to stand on the shoulders of the giants who came before us so we can see even clearer than they could.
The story of Avram taking a complete leap of faith and following God’s instructions actually began with his father Terach. The difference between Terach and Avram is that Terach ‘settled’; he did not complete the journey.
Rashi, a medieval commentator notes that Terach’s death is mentioned to teach us that Abraham and his family left Terach years before his death. Abravanel, another medieval commentator, comments on why Terach remained behind. Death did not prevent Terach from going to Canaan; rather, he lost interest in the journey.
In the fifth chapter of Pirkei Avot 5: we read:
בֶּן בַּג בַּג אוֹמֵר, הֲפֹךְ בָּהּ וַהֲפֹךְ בָּהּ, דְּכֹלָּא בָהּ. וּבָהּ תֶּחֱזֵי, וְסִיב וּבְלֵה בָהּ, וּמִנַּהּ לֹא תָזוּעַ, שֶׁאֵין לְךָ מִדָּה טוֹבָה הֵימֶנָּה:
Ben Bag Bag said: Turn it over, and [again] turn it over, for all is therein. And look into it; And become gray and old therein; And do not move away from it, for you have no better portion than it.
Ben Bag Bag challenges us to dig deeper in Torah, and not to be seduced by easy answers. He also gives a message to the ‘wise’, seniors: Torah study does not end with youth; it is a lifelong journey.
Abraham was known for digging wells. When his wells were stopped up with earth, his son Isaac digs the same wells (Genesis 26). Wells permeate the Tanach because they are they hold the center of life: water.
Water is actually used by the rabbis as a metaphor for Torah. Rabbi/Dr. Ismar Schorsh, former Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary wrote, “Some mystically inclined Rabbis opined: “Water actually stands for Torah, as it is said (by Isaiah, 55:1), ‘Ho, all who are thirsty, come for water'...The analogy drives home the point that Torah to Jews is as vital as water to humans. They are both indispensable sources of life. In exploring other planets for life, space scientists look first for signs of water. Without Torah, Jewish life would face extinction.”
Every generation has the obligation to re-dig stopped up wells from their ancestors, but also to dig new ones. In short, we must always dig deeper, no matter how old or young we are.
I hear something interesting from many Jews who have moved from ‘up north’ to South Florida. They say, “We did it up north already.” But Avram teaches us that no matter how old we are, we can learn more, we can dig deeper and grow; it’s never too late for another adventure.
Pioneers are almost always a small and committed group with a singular focus to take a leap of faith as they begin new journeys. But these special people do not look at themselves as beginning a new journey, but the next step of a journey that their ancestors started.
No matter how young or old, we can be pioneers, we can drink from the waters of Torah, and when we do so, we bring our ancestors with us for a new adventure.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David Baum
