Edited and Adapted from Ari’s Grill & Torah – October 27, 2017
If there was ever a Zionist parsha in the Torah, it’s this week’s parsha, Parshat Lech Lecha.
God says to Avraham, “Lech lecha me’artzecha” — go from your land, from the place you were born, from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.
Of course, the first pasuk doesn’t only say “go.” It says, “Go for your benefit.”
Which is really interesting, because when it comes to Akeidat Yitzchak, the binding of Isaac, for example, God doesn’t say, “Take your son and sacrifice him for your good.” He says to take his son and sacrifice him because that’s what God commanded.
But in this case, there’s something different. It’s not simply a command. It’s for your good. And not only does Hashem tell Avraham to go to a land that He will show him in the future, He even gives him the blessings that will follow if he goes to this land.
The question is, first of all, what’s the big deal?
In other words, if I want to test someone’s trust, and I say, “You gotta trust me. Just do this,” the whole idea of trust is that they don’t know what’s going to happen. If they know what’s going to happen, there’s no big deal of trust, is there?
So let’s talk about this for a second.
Avraham Avinu gets this commandment from God: “Lech lecha” — go for yourself, to the land that I will show you. He doesn’t even show him the land.
And the question is, why doesn’t God just say, “Go to the land that I will show you”? Why does He have to go through all this — from your land, from the place you were born, from your father’s house? Leave this and leave that?
Again, if you’re going to tell me it’s to challenge Avraham Avinu, well, it’s not much of a challenge because Hashem says to Avraham, “Yeah, you’re leaving all that, but I’m going to give you endless blessings.”
So what’s the test? And why does the Torah begin by emphasizing everything Avraham has to leave behind?
Many of our Jewish sages explain that this was meant to cause Avraham pain. Leave your family, leave your culture, leave the place you were born, and go to a strange country. The emotional separation from his family and culture was part of the test, to see if Avraham had faith in HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
Okay, that’s one of the answers.
But I never really understood that answer, because God actually told Avraham about the blessings he would receive if he went. So what’s the test?
I had a little bit of a different twist on this, which I was thinking about today.
Are We Americans Living in Israel, or Jews Living in Our Homeland?
There are people moving to Israel today. We’re living through a miracle, with Jews returning from all four corners of the earth to the Land of Israel.
And people come for many different reasons. Some say, “I came because it’s too expensive where I live.” Others come because it’s a beautiful land, or for all kinds of other reasons.
Wonderful. They come to Israel, they settle the land. But the question is, what do they do in this country?
Do they just live here the way they lived in America, England, Switzerland, South Africa, or Australia? Do American Jews come here to be Americans in Israel? Do Australians come here to be Australians in Israel?
What is our goal here?
I think the message in this week’s parsha is very, very unique.
Hashem says to Avraham Avinu, “You’re going to go to the land that I will show you.” He doesn’t even define the land yet. He doesn’t say, “Go to the Land of Israel.” He says, “Go to the land that I will show you.”
But the first step isn’t even to show him where it is. It’s really interesting. He doesn’t even tell him where to go.
The first step is “Lech lecha me’artzecha” — leave your country. “Mi’moladtecha” — the place you were born. “Mi’beit avicha” — your father’s house.
The action of leaving seems to have tremendous importance in this week’s parsha. The whole first pasuk is talking about leaving different aspects of Avraham Avinu’s homeland, where he came from.
And the point is, you have to separate yourself.
If you’re coming to Eretz Israel, if you’re coming to the Land of Israel, you have to realize that you have to leave somewhere first.
You can’t just be an American here, or an Australian here, or a French person here. That has to disappear.
We are not American. We are not French. We are not Australian. That’s maybe where we ended up because we were kicked out of other countries.
Most Jews haven’t been in America for ten generations. They originally came from somewhere else, where they were kicked out or killed, and eventually they ended up in America.
Thank God for America. It’s been very kind to the Jews. Australia’s been very kind to the Jews. All these countries have been very nice to us. But we didn’t go there on purpose. We went there almost by default, because we had to run away from somewhere.
And again, thank God for these countries. They’ve been very good to the Jews. But we didn’t aim to go there. We ended up there.
Where we aim to go is the Land of Israel.
And in order to go to the Land of Israel, according to the first pasuk of this week’s parsha, first you have to leave where you came from. You have to leave that culture you came from.
That doesn’t mean you can’t use American things, or go to the movies, or that you have to be a hermit. No, that’s not what I’m talking about.
But the culture, the mindset — you have to leave that.
You can’t come here and say, “I’m an American.” You can’t come and just be an American in Israel. No, you have to be a Jew.
You’re coming to the Land of Israel because you’re Jewish.
Zionism is very important. I breathe it. But Zionism is the movement that believes Jews have a right and a duty to be part of the Land of Israel. You can’t separate that responsibility from the first part of the sentence — the Jewish part of the sentence.
So in order to come and live in the Land of Israel the way you’re supposed to live here, you have to separate first. You have to separate from the place you were born, from your father’s house, from the culture you came from.
Whatever you did there is fine. It’s wonderful. Say thank you to your hosts.
But when you come to Israel, you have to leave that behind.
You’re coming to Israel not as an American Jew, but as a Jew, period.
My Grandmother Taught Me Where Home Really Is
I’ll never forget something my grandmother told me when I was, I think, in tenth or eleventh grade.
I was living in America at the time, and she asked me, “Are you happy where you are?”
I said, “Of course I’m happy in America.”
And she said to me, “You know, this is not home.”
I said, “Come on, Grandma. I’m playing hockey, I’ve got my friends. It’s home.”
She said, “No, you’re a guest here.”
And it wasn’t a criticism of America. God forbid. It wasn’t at all a criticism of America. America has been very good to us, and still is.
It was a criticism of myself.
“You might live here, but this is not your home. Your home is in the Land of Israel.”
And that’s what happens with Avraham Avinu. Hashem says to him, “I’m going to bring you to Eretz Israel, but first, lech lecha me’artzecha. You have to leave the country you’re in. Mi’beit avicha — you have to leave your father’s house. You have to leave that culture.”
You know, every time I speak to American students who come here to Israel for the year, one of the first questions I ask them is, “All right, people, when is Halloween?”
And they all know the date of Halloween. Jews I’m talking about.
Then I ask them, “When is Shavuot?”
And they all stutter.
I ask them when their English birthday is, and they know it by heart. I ask them when their Hebrew birthday is, and they stutter.
Not because they’re bad people, God forbid. But they’ve been living in a culture where these things haven’t been put at the forefront. So they don’t know.
They can name the twelve English months, but not the twelve Hebrew months.
We have to understand that this isn’t about being mean to the culture we came from. No, don’t misunderstand me. But you have to set priorities.
The first thing is that we’re Jewish. And that’s why we’re coming to the Land of Israel.
So when Hashem says, “Lech lecha me’artzecha, umi’moladtecha, umi’beit avicha,” He’s telling Avraham to leave what he has known until now, because until now, he’s been a foreigner.
A foreigner in a very comfortable land, and a land he has to say thank you to.
We even say thank you to Mitzrayim, to Egypt. We spent 210 years there, in slavery, but we still have to recognize the hospitality we received, even if it was very difficult.
But when it comes to us coming to the Land of Israel, we have to separate ourselves from what we knew beforehand.
We cannot come here as though this is just another land. It’s not just another place where Jews can live.
No. We have to have a whole different mindset.
Avraham Avinu, the King of Sodom, and the Meaning of Independence
And what’s interesting is that Avraham Avinu saves Lot, his relative, from Sodom, which was a very immoral place.
There’s a war, and Avraham Avinu even saves the king of Sodom.
And the king of Sodom says to him, “I’ll give you money.”
But Avraham says, “I’m not going to take anything. Not even a shoelace. Nothing from you.”
Why?
Because I don’t want you to think for a second that my survival is based on the financial assistance or the financial agreement we make between me and you, the king of Sodom. Not even a little bit.
And that’s the issue here.
So too with Israel. Of course we have allies. America, England, France — all these places are allies. They don’t want to destroy us. That’s wonderful.
But we should never think, or put ourselves in a predicament, where our survival is based on them.
People say, “What would we do without American aid?”
Again, thank God for America. Please don’t misunderstand me.
But what would we do without American aid? What does that even mean? We’re a nation that’s over 3,000 years old. What do you mean. Really!
We’d love to get help from people. But our survival is not reliant on America, or England, or France, or anyone else.
It’s only on HaKadosh Baruch Hu – God.
And that’s why Avraham Avinu says to the king of Sodom that he won’t take even a shoelace from him.
Because he doesn’t want the king of Sodom to think that he’s reliant on him, even in the slightest bit.
Wishing everyone a Shabbat Shalom and a wonderful weekend, no matter where you’re tuning in from.
Take care from the beautiful, stunning rolling hills of Judea, Israel.