Dear TBZ community:
This week's parasha, Parshat Lech Lecha, is all about journeys.
Journeys from home, journeys that are made by choice to a new place and journeys to escape a dangerous situation.
Abram and Sarai leave their home in a journey guided by their faith and beliefs. They leave their past, they start anew (Genesis 12:1-6).
Abram and Sarai leave again as there is famine in the land, and they journey to Egypt in a time of distress (Genesis 12:10).
Hagar runs away from Sarai in fear of her destiny (Genesis 16:6).
As I read these stories, I think of the journey that I have taken and that many of us have taken throughout our lives. I, personally as you may know, have left and moved many times. I have lived in different countries and cities and I am blessed to say that each move and each journey has been by choice and for the most part positive. But I also know that sometimes my journeys and choices have been guided by the need to leave something from my past behind and start anew, or the desire to avoid a specific situation or the hope for new possibilities to open in front of me.
When Hagar runs away from Sarai, Hagar encounters an angel.(Please note that this event happens before Ishamel is born. We will read in next week’s parasha about Sarah casting away Hagar and Ishmael). The midrash even imagines that she meets four angels!
We read in Genesis 16:7:
וַֽיִּמְצָאָ֞הּ מַלְאַ֧ךְ יְהֹוָ֛ה עַל־עֵ֥ין הַמַּ֖יִם בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר עַל־הָעַ֖יִן בְּדֶ֥רֶךְ שֽׁוּר
An angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur.
In Yalkut Me’am Lo’ez a widely studied commentary on the Tanach written in Ladino initiated by Rabbi Yaakov Culi in 1730, and translated to English by Rabbi Ariyeh Kaplan, we learn about this pasuk (verse):
“Four angels appeared before Hagar, one after the other. Since she was Abram’s maid, she was able to communicate with angels. According to another opinion, there were only three angels. She was not frightened by the sight of an angel. She had seen angles in Abram’s house, and was used to them”
I love this image of angels accompanying Hagar through a difficult journey. I also treasure the idea that Hagar “was used to them”! I want to invite you to think about this image in your own lives and journeys. Moments where you have encountered angels on the road which have guided you and hopefully strengthened you through a difficult journey.
You too may have spent last Monday cheering for the runners in the Boston Marathon. My daughters and I stood on the corner, just a block from our home, and we clapped, cheered, and yelled for each runner and for all of them at once. The first hour I was in tears. After such difficult times, after the cancellation and postponement of the Marathon in 2020 and 2021, this moment felt triumphant, especially as the wheelchair racers and the para-athletic division and the handcycles and the duo teams went by. It was powerful to celebrate in a crowd of others and it felt incredibly hopeful. Although the combined roar of the spectators, the collective cheering -- the many voices shouting encouragement -- has always moved me, this year it felt even more of a collective experience. All of us, the runners and the onlookers, cheered in triumph and in possibility. I felt like all of us were angels, cheering this route, cheering twenty thousand runners. We were cheering for ourselves and for this: this year’s Boston Marathon and these runners who once again remind us of the power of resilience, fortitude, and determination no matter the hardships.
Each journey we take gives us the opportunity to encounter angels along our way, even if we are not always ready to see them. And many times, each of us may be an angel in the journey of others.
Perhaps this Shabbat you can ponder on these questions: Who has been your angel in your journey? To whom have you been an angel?
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May we start the journey of learning Torah together again, in depth and with joy.
May all those who are ill find healing.
May we have a joyful and restful Shabbat!
Shabbat Shalom,
