Torah Portion - November 6, 2008

D’var Torah – Parashat Lech Lecha

John McCain is 72 as we enter (Tuesday night) the final hours of what seemed to be an endless campaign.  I always thought that seventy-two was “old”.  But I suppose with a mother well into her 90’s, and his energy for campaigning for the past nearly 2 years, maybe it’s not so “old” anymore.

At 75, Abram (yes, before God changed his name to Abraham) was about to set out on his own “campaign.”  Campaign 2000 BCE was the beginning of the Jewish story.  He was called by God in Genesis to,

¹ “…go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.  ² 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.”

Why did the Torah pose the question for Abram to leave Haran in three different ways?  The rabbis speak of God’s sensitivity toward Abram – letting the “blow” of leaving family and everything he knows, building trust in order to begin the trek wheiuch will ultimately establish the Jewish people and Jewish nation.  God builds the ask in stages: leave – your native land; your father’s house; …but to where?!  

Leaving what we know is one thing.  Better to know the destination.  You and I can get excited about a destination (remember your thoughts before your last vacation?).  But to go to a place where God ‘will show you’?  THAT requires faith.  Belief.  Confidence in a God he just “met.”  That was Abram – recognizing what his homeland lacked – whether their god(s), the society, or the environment – he confidently trusts that God’s way will be the right way. 

When we are asked to “Go” – and we will – to set out on our own Lech Lecha, we strengthen our journey when we travel with God at our side, and trust that the path we (and God) choose will be the right one!

Shabbat Shalom!

Mark

Rabbi Mark S. Kram