PORTION DATE HEB DATE TORAH NEVIIM KETUVIM Lech Lecha Oct 28, 2017 8 Cheshvan 5778 Gen. 12:1-17:27 Isa. 40:27-41:16 John 8:51-58 In the year 2023 of the Creation, Hashem said to Abram to leave his family and country. As we have studied last week, even though Terach, Abram’s father was a ‘closet monotheist’ and accepted Hashem as an Elohim, Terach did not show outwardly of his devotion to Hashem. The Sages say, for this reason, Terach has no place at the World to Come. Genesis 12 Go for yourself) – On Pashat (literal) level, the Torah is showing difficulty Abram) "לְֶך־לְָך" :Verse 1 faces as he follows Hashem’s command. First, he had to leave the land, then he had to leave his relatives and friends. Finally, he had to leave his parents which Abram was responsible to care for. When a person is born, only a small portion of soul enters the body and enlivens it while the “root” stays above, overcoming physical limitation and experiencing Divinity as real as we experience physicality of this world. Our challenges, while we stay on this world is “to connect the earthly dimension of our soul (whose physical perception has blinded it to Divinity) with its transcendent root.” The more we connect to our root, the more we will see Divinity.1 Therefore, the Torah is telling us: Go for yourself: return to your inner core, by going From your land: by transcending your earthly desires, From your birthplace: by overcoming your natural habits and inclinations, and From your father’s house: by transcending the intellectual limitations of your soul. As we can see this is not just a command of Hashem for Abram. Rather, it is a command also for us to leave the comfort zone we established around us and ‘go’ out to the world to transform it into a place where Hashem can dwell. It also applies to every soul about to be born from the highest place to the lowest place: Go: Descend from the highest place, ”is related to the word for “will” or “desire ( ארץ From your land: The word for “land” (eretz .(Thus “land” alludes to Hashem’s will which is identified as Keter (crown .( רצון ratzon) Thus the soul is told to leave its roots (keter) and descend to the next level (chochmah). From your birthplace: The Divine insight is called “father,” since chochmah “fathers” and gives birth to ideas. The soul also has to leave this level and descend even further, into the realm of understanding (binah), Your father’s house: Binah is the womb where the seed of chochmah is developed and expanded, which is why it is called “your father’s house.” The soul must descend even further – To the land, i.e., to the physical world: This is the ultimate, most difficult descent, yet through it the soul arrives in this world, which is the “land”2 1 Or HaTorah, Bereishit, vol 4, 680b-681b. 2 Likutei Sichot, vol.2, p659 Parashat Lech Lecha, Oct. 28, 2017 Page 1 Verse 2: “And you shall be a blessing” – According to Ramban, Abraham will be the standard by which people will bless themselves. This idea is further supported in the next verse when Hashem declared “I will bless those who bless you…through you all the families.” Verse 5: “The souls that they made” – The “souls” refer to those whom they had converted to faith in HaShem, for Abraham converted the men and the women. Verse 13: In Drash, Abram signifies the soul; Sarai the body; and the Pharaoh as the world. Allowing Sarai taken into the Pharaoh’s palace shows that we cannot be separated from the physical world, while seeking avoidance. Instead, we are to sanctify the physical world using the physical tools for holy purposes. Such tool is our body. While the body has tendency to chase after the materialistic world, the body can be trained to allow the soul to use it to elevate the physical world to love Hashem on its own. We do this by studying the Torah and carrying out His commandments in the physical world. Verse 12-19: We learned from the last parashat Noach that Sarai is a prophetess and beautiful as well. The Egyptians had dark complexion, and the crate Sarai was hiding opened, the guards saw how beautiful she was and took her to the Pharaoh. “But Hashem afflicted” the Egyptians with severe plagues that affected the whole country. Sarai prayed to Hashem for rescue, and when the Pharaoh approached, he was struck by an angel protecting her. The Pharaoh then realized that the plagues was caused by Hashem and called Abram. Even though, the Pharaoh suspected that his affliction was because of Sarai, he was not certain whether Sarai was Abram’s wife. Thus, he confronted Abram accusing him of lying. Even though, the Pharaoh took Abram’s wife, he believed he was dealing in honest. His intention is recognized as honorable in verses 18 and 19 for his questions implied that even though Abram distrusted the morality of the Egyptians, Abram should have told him in secret. Unlike Abimelech’s similar situation (Gen. 20:15), Pharaoh told Abram to leave his country immediately because they were not safe in his country. Pharaoh also gave his daughter, Hagar to Sarai as a bondwoman, saying that it is better for his daughter to be a servant to a woman like Sarai who is favored by Hashem. During this period, Abram had been in Egypt for 3 months. Genesis 13 Verse 5: “Lot accompanied Abram” – Lot’s name alludes to his hidden evil. The word lot is related to one of the synonyms lut in Hebrew which means ‘curse’. While Lot was with Abram, his evil was subdued within Abram’s holiness, like dross mixed in with the gold before it is purified. Verse 7: “And there was a quarrel.” – A dispute arose when Lot’s shepherds began to graze their flocks on other people’s pastures. When Abraham’s shepherds rebuked them for this, they responded that HaShem had promised the land to Abraham, and since he was childless, Lot was his heir and the land was his. However, the verse specifically negates this contention by emphasizing that the Canaanites and Perizzites were still in the land; Abraham had not yet become the legitimate owner (Rashi). Parashat Lech Lecha, Oct. 28, 2017 Page 2 Verse 9: “If you go left then I will go right” – Directions are given assuming that one is facing east, with right being south and left being north. “In front” refers to the east, and “behind” refers to the west (Sforno). When Lot chose to go to the east, he was choosing to give up Abraham’s way of life. Verse 14-18: Hashem did not communicate with Abram while Lot stayed with his uncle. Because he began to resent Abram, his Elohim, and rebelled (quarrel between shepherds) against Abram. After Lot’s departure, Hashem repeated His promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:7), to emphasize that the Land had been given exclusively to him and his descendants, not to Lot. The name ‘Hebron’ is related to the word chaber (to connect). The city of Hebron expresses the unity of Israel as well as their unity with Hashem metaphorically and physically. This is the reason King David was crowned in Hebron. Abram built three altars for three different reasons: First is to thank Hashem that Abram would be blessed with a son and his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan. He built the second altar to atone for a sin of future descendants. He built the third altar to show his expression of love for Hashem and commitment to Him. The three altars were prelude to three types of sacrifices that would be made by his descendants in the Temple. Peace offering was to “inspire” Hashem to provide sustenance for the world. Thus, part of the offering was eaten by the priests and the other burnt on the altar. The second, sin offering was for atonement and it was offered up for spiritual purpose, thus it was eaten by the priests and burnt on the altar. The ascent offering was to display our unconditional love for Hashem, and it was burnt entirely on the altar. The three altars also represent three Temples. When Israel sinned, the First Temple was destroyed, and replaced by the Second Temple which was based on the premise of repentance. The Third Temple will be built in the messianic era when the souls are ready to perceive His Divinity. Genesis 14 The War of the Kings. In the year 1996 after the Creation, immediately after the dispersion following the incident of the Towel of Babel, the four kings: 1. Amrafel (He who said, ‘Fall [into the furnace!’])who is Nimrod, king of Shin’ar (Babylon); 2. Aryoch, king of Elasar; 3. Chedorlaomer who is Elam, son of Shem son of Noah, king of Elam; 4. and Tid’al, king of nations). They waged war against five kingdoms: 1. Bera, king of Sodom – sought to be “evil” (ra) to both Hashem and humanity; 2. Birsha, king of Gomorrah – to indicate he exceeded Bera “in wickedness” (be-resha); to both Hashem and humanity; 3. Shin’av, king of Admah – to indicate that he ‘hated’ (sana) Hashem, his heavenly ‘father’ (av); to Hashem only; 4. Shem’eiver, king of Tzevoyim – to indicate that he ‘set’ his ‘wings’ (sam eiver) to rebel against Hashem; to Hashem only; 5.