Words for Shabbat - A community blog for this week's parashah
Parashat Lech Lecha
A journey of choice, identity, and alliance
I was asked a few weeks ago to write a “dvar Torah” on the parasha Lech Lecha and I think this is from HaChem for two reasons : 1) This parasha is, I think, the one my eldest son read for his Bar-Mitzvah, 2) This is a very meaningfull parashah for me because I made aliyah 17 years ago and the two words “Lech Lecha” echoe in my heart.
The command that God commands Abram at the beginning of the parsha is made up of three parts: “from your land,” “from your native land,” and “from your father’s house.” At first glance, the meaning of “land” and “native land” may seem similar, but from a study of the previous parsha, we can understand the difference: Terah, Abram’s father, set out from Ur of the Chaldeans on his way to Canaan with his family, but stopped along the way and settled in Haran. Hence, “your land” refers to Haran – Abram’s current place of residence, and “your native land” refers to Ur of the Chaldeans – the place where he was born.
The injunction Avram receives contains three different terms and it’s important to understand each of them. G-d says : Go from your land, from your birth’s place and from your father’s house. At first sight it’s difficult to understand the difference between the land and the birthplace. The answer is in the precedent parasha : At one point (and we have no explanation why) Avram’s father, Terach, decided to go to Cana’an and left Ur Kasdim . But he stopped on his way to Cana’an and settled down in Haran with Avram and Avram’s wife, Saraï, and Haran’s son, Lot after Haran died. Haran was Avram’s brother. Another brother decided to stay in Ur Kasdim. And now we get to our Parashah : “your land” is Haran and “your birth’s place” is Ur Kasdim. The order to get out from “your father’s house” is more difficult to understand because normally the family would stay in the same place. Howcome Avram is told to leave his old father who has lost one of his sons ? It might be considered as cruel, but in fact if Avram is to fulfill his mission, he has to quit his ancestors and the countries where he used to live. He has to create a new path, a new life, a new “brit” and he has to get rid of the past. If I may relate this to my personal life I can testify that it is quite difficult, when you’re a grown up to leave and create something else in your life. You have to look forward and you cannot maintain bounds with the past. You have to build a separation between your new life and what you did in the past and this is why, maybe, G-d asked Avram to leave the past behind him and to go to where He would tell him. G-d is testing Avram’s capacity to believe in Him and to obey eventhough he has to go to a place he doesn’t know . As we know G-d will test Avram later on when He asked him to kill Itzhak. As there are a number of very interesting subjects in this parasha, I choose to add a few comments on the last subjects, namely the circumcision and the change of names. Once again HaChem gives Avram (who became Avraham) an order impossible to understand… HaChem wants from Avraham an unquestioning obedience. And not only has Abraham to circumcise himself but his sons and all the male inhabitants of his house! God explains that this will be a binding sign between Adonaï on one hand and Avraham and his descendants on the other hand. Just before this injunction, God promised to Avraham to give him a very large lineage and the possession of the country he settled in, namely Canaan. What is the relation between the circumcision and the possession of Canaan ? There is no explanation in the Tanah, so let’s elaborate: God chooses a man, Avram. He asks him to quit his fatherland, his family and to settle down in a foreign country. And then he promises him to give him and his descendants this country. At this time Avram has a son named Ismael but he is the son of a servant, Agar. And God means that Saraï will become a mother and her identity will change : her name will be Sarah when she becomes a mother. And Avram’s name was also changed and became Avraham. Each one of this founding couple got a “he” in their name. We know that this letter is very important : it appears twice in the name of God and it gives the couple a sacred meaning : Both Avraham and Sarah are to be devoted to God and God’s reward is enormous : a descendance and a country ! So we have two distinctive signs of the alliance between God and this couple : a physical sign for the man, namely the circumcision and for both of them a sacred letter added to their name: their identity has changed ! They have to behave the way God asks them. They have to carry the responsibility of creating a Nation devoted to God. One could ask : Why is there no distinctive physical sign between God and Sarah ? My opinion is that to become a mother is enough and Sarah knows that this is a miracle: she is too old after the human rules to become pregnant…That’s why in the future of Am Israel women do not need another sign than to become mother in order to be related to God. Am Israel Haï
From my own experience of immigration, I can attest to how difficult it is, as an adult, to leave and build a new life. This process requires looking ahead and a certain renunciation of what was in the past. Perhaps this was God’s message to Abraham: to be the “father of the nation,” he must free himself from old meanings and step into an unknown future with full faith.
Later in the parsha, God commands Abraham to perform the commandment of circumcision. Here too, it is a commandment that does not seem logical, and requires absolute obedience. Circumcision constitutes a physical and permanent sign of the covenant between Abraham and his seed and his God. Once again, God gives Abraham a commandment that is difficult to understand from a human perspective—unquestioning obedience, not only regarding himself but also regarding his sons and all the men in his household.
Before this command, God promises Abraham two foundational promises: a land – the land of Canaan where he lives – and a great seed. However, at this point Abraham only has one son, Ishmael, the son of Hagar. God announces that Sarai, his wife, will bear him a son, and her name will be changed to Sarah. Abram's name is also changed to Abraham. The letter H is added to both – a letter of high spiritual significance, which appears twice in the name of God. The change of name signifies a change of identity and a new mission: a couple who are committed to raising up a people dedicated to their God.
Thus, two different and complementary signs of the covenant are established: one – physical, in Abraham and his male offspring; and the other – identity, which appears in the change of names Abraham and Sarah. They are committed from now on to bear the responsibility of creating a people dedicated to God – this is their new mission.
And here a natural question arises: Why is there no physical sign of covenant with Sarah, as was given to Abraham? In my opinion, the very fact that Sarah becomes a mother is in itself a divine miracle—and also a profound sign of covenant. Sarah knows very well that at her age it is not natural to give birth; therefore, for women, the very ability to be mothers is the sign of a connection with God. There is no need for an additional sign.
These two components – embarking on a new path and signing a covenant – shape the initial Jewish identity: belonging to the land and belonging to the faith. The journey of Abraham and Sarah is a process of personal and national identity that is realized in future generations, and continues to exist since then to this day.
Am israel Hai
Brigitte Bigard
Brigitte Bigard divides her life between Israel and Paris-Geneva, and is involved in distributing the anthology "Seven" - which she translated into French. She leads an initiative to write poetry for teenagers affected by the war. A devoted grandmother, a lover of art and classical music, and a frequent reader in French, English and Hebrew.
I have debated a lot about what to write about in the Book of Genesis. A chapter that contains five stories (the creation of the world, the creation of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, and the association of angels with the daughters of man) on each of which, individually, one could write entire pages, and each story evokes different emotions, countless questions and interpretations. Dozens of paintings have been painted about each of the stories, most of which came mainly from Christian culture, and many poems have been written, both in world culture and in contemporary Israeli culture. 
