G-d said to Abraham “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 make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.” (Lech Lecha, 12:1-2)
This is the first command G-d makes to Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish people. He is to leave what is safe, known and comfortable and begin a new nation, the Chosen Nation. According to the Rambam, everything that happened to our forefathers is a presage for the Jewish people. Their behaviour is the groundwork for how we should conduct our lives.
Lech Lecha (go for yourself) applies to all of us.
The late American author, James Michener, wrote in The Fires of Spring (NY: Random House, 1949):
“For this is the journey that humans make: to find themselves. If they fail in this, it doesn’t matter much what else they find. But if a person happens to find oneself – if they know what they can be depended upon to do, the limits of courage, the positions from which they will no longer retreat, the degree to which they can surrender their inner life to someone, the secret reservoirs of their determination, the extent of their dedication, the depth of their feelings for beauty, their honest and un-postured goals – then they have found a mansion which they can inhabit with dignity all the days of their lives.”
How do we summarise Michener’s musing?
We can be so much more.
Voyaging Beyond The Quiet To Realise Your Purpose
In Lech Lecha, we read a comparable instruction to find purpose, to live and to listen as your true self – to find the quiet beyond the quiet.
Abraham’s command comes from G-d’s voice which Abraham hears in his mind. It’s by no means a voice that’s only experienced atop mountains. It’s a voice echoing in the depths of our minds. And it booms when we properly stop and listen. It’s a voice that challenges us to contemplate if this is who we are meant to be; if this is what we’re called to do; if this is the objective for which we’re created.
So, wasn’t G-d’s call to Abraham a call towards a greater purpose? Surely each one of us was created for a particular purpose – we are meant to right something.
It’s comforting but it’s also puzzling. We all want what Abraham was promised, a life of abundant blessings. And just like Abraham, we’re called into being, to discover our purpose and meaning, to impact our world and make it more compassionate.
But First, Listen
Lech Lecha – set off on your lifepath of self-awareness and manifest your purpose in life. Just listen and you’ll discover that purpose.
Listening is hard, though, isn’t it? It requires many takes to listen to the quiet behind the quiet, or behind the noise even. Negativity and fear all too often distract us from truly hearing.
But listening takes courage. It takes bravery to hear that we are called to greater things. It takes a strong will and vulnerably open heart to hear lech lecha – journey forth to a place that G-d will show you.
Abraham journeyed towards the Negeb in stages, and so it is that stage by stage we build a life. Each stage, each moment, is a chance for spiritual growth. Lech Lecha calls us to live courageously.
And Then… Have Faith
Lech Lecha – go for yourself, for your own sake. Not for the community’s sake. Not for the sake of others. Lecha – for you and your own well-being. Get out of the rut you’re in, the place in which you’re stuck. It’s the only way to grow spiritually. Remain, and you stagnate. You’ll never reach the heights you so deserve.
Scary, right? It takes faith.
Momentus Abrahamic journeys are difficult, especially because we leave what is known and comfortable, and we think we’re leaving behind a piece of ourselves or, what we perceive ourselves to be. It’s true, sure, it’s how we influence those around us.
But when we feel pushed out, we think we’re being forced to leave a part of ourselves behind, leaving us a little broken. No longer whole. But who you are is also where you came from.
It takes mountains of faith.
Journeys include stages and steps. We journey from and towards. To complete a journey, both are essential.
Abraham knew what he was leaving behind, and only during his journey would he discover what he was going towards.
But he learns, as do we in the Torah, that the journey is the central and most critical part of his spiritual growth.
The joy is in the journey.
So, Now We Are Here
I came across a rather appropriate and stunning Buddhist teaching recently that the word nowhere consists of “now” and “here.”
It so beautifully expresses the human dilemma of being either here in the present or nowhere – anxious, distracted and failing to soak up the present moment. Lech Lecha is a commandment to be present.
Our spiritual journeys are not a destination. Rather, the journey is a manifestation of your life’s purpose. It’s now and here that we can distinctly listen to the quiet beyond the quiet.
Every single day we have the opportunity to align ourselves with life’s blessings; to find the beauty of life and to live in the truth of it. Life is both a struggle and magnificent, and once we journey beyond the day-to-day noise, anxiety and fear, we truly hear that voice challenging us to consider the purpose for which we’re created and find the strength to travel the path that is meant for us.
Shabbat Shalom.
Nachas & Drash 