Parsha Paragraphs
Rabbi Naftali Kassorla
Parshat Lech Lecha 5778
A Consequential Life
The D’var Torah for this week is dedicated in memory of:
ר׳ אלחנן יעקב ז״ל בן מורי וחמי ר׳ שמואל פנחס
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In this week’s parsha the Torah introduces us to the personality of our forefather Avraham. This marks the first time that G-d communicated with Avraham Avinu. G-d said to Avraham: לך לך - “Go for yourself from your land, from your relatives, and from your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation; I will bless you, and I will make your name great and you shall be a blessing.” This directive of לך לך is counted among the ten trials that G-d put forth to Avraham.
According to many commentators, this was not the first test with which Avraham was charged. Rather we find, even prior to G-d speaking to Avraham, the first test Avraham encountered was in Ur Kasdim. Nimrod, the evil king of Shinar, challenged him to either betray his faith and bow to idols or face death in a fiery furnace. Avraham chose to sacrifice his life and jump into the fire.
Despite this great sacrifice, we find no mention of this test anywhere in the Torah itself; rather it is alluded to in the verse: "And He said to him: I am the Lord who took you out from Ur Kasdim..." (Bereshit 15:7). Furthermore, for us to know the actual details of the episode, we have to turn to Rashi on an earlier verse (ibid. 11:28) where he points out that the mentioning of Ur Kasdim alludes to the miraculous salvation of Avraham when thrown into a fiery pit for refusal to pay homage to the idols. Why is the test of לך לך chosen as the introduction of the character of Avraham in the written Torah, and not the first test of sacrificing his life for his faith – a tremendous feat which we only know from the Midrashic sources?
To clarify this we must look elsewhere. We find in reference to Bilaam (the gentile prophet) that he asked of G-d: תמת נפשי מות ישרים – “Let me die the death of the Righteous” (Bamidbar 23:10). The commentaries explain that the ישרים are our forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. Bilaam requested that he merit to receive a share comparable to that of the אבות in the world to come. The Chofetz Chaim זי״ע is quoted (חפץ חיים עה״ת) noting that Bilaam's desire was to die like the righteous, but not to live the life of a Tzaddik. In truth, the greatest challenge posed to us is not to die על קידוש ה׳, in the glorification of G-d's name, rather the challenge is to live a life in the glorification of G-d's name. For the irony is, that when one dies על קידוש השם, they don't have to “live” with the consequences of that decision. A life of sacrifice and challenge was not the type of life Bilaam wished to pursue; rather he wanted the easy route, reaping all the benefits of a G-dly, productive life without the effort it entails.
The Chofetz Chaim is telling us that Judaism places the highest value on living a full life of growth. Life is inherently fraught with highs and lows, of times of clarity and of darkness. We are faced with moments of challenges to our faith and our fealty to His laws. But when we overcome the obstacles, grow through the difficulties and reach higher to become more G-dly, we are playing an active role of raising the material world to the level of the Divine. That is a much more difficult proposition.
Perhaps with this in mind, we can now revisit our question. The introduction that the Torah wants us to have can only be properly viewed through the prism of לך לך. The test of לך לך that Avraham faced was that of making a move which would alter his life and his future forever. He was charged with the challenge of wading out alone, outside his comfort zone, in a world that so heavily valued tribal clans and the patriarchal system. He was faced with making a decision, and dealing with the real-life ramifications resulting from his decision. The true test of Avraham Avinu was having the strength to choose a path that would require tremendous adjustments, and to follow it faithfully.
This was the unfathomable greatness of Avraham Avinu, and this is the message that Torah wants us to inculcate as we learn about the אבות. Jumping into the fires in defense of his belief was an amazing act, unmatched in its righteousness, showing the utmost faith in Hashem. But if we were told of this event as the first portrayal of Avraham Avinu, we could walk away without understanding his true greatness: that he chose to live a meaningful life to its fullest despite (and even through) its difficulties.
This message also sets forth for us the true essence of our people and the desire of our G-d. The charge to live a Divine life is what separates us from the world around us. We do not desire lives of amebic consumption, for endless accumulation of pleasurable experiences. Rather we ask G-d to grant us a life that makes a profound difference in this world – a life that speak volumes because of how it was lived, not how it ended. Life is fleeting, but we can rise above those limitations when we connect to a divinely inspired existence. For that ties us to the infinite, and makes life into something which is beyond the physical realities of time and space.
The influence of our Forefathers still reverberate these many millennia later, their every word and action parsed, their thoughts plumbed for more and more depth. Our tradition stresses that we challenge ourselves: מתי יגיעו מעשי למעשה אבותי אברהם יצחק ויעקב - Every Jew must ask, “when will our deeds reach the deeds of the our forefathers?” (Tanna D’bei Eliyahu Rabbah 25) Their impact on this world is what we desire.
May we be blessed to all live truly divinely inspired lives, and may we merit to see the Divine Presence and protection upon our people soon in our days.
Shabbat Shalom
