Lech Lecha
Gen. 12:1 -17:27
Précis: This parasha, “get you up” or “go yourself” (lech lecha) begins with “the call” of Abram to leave his home and depart for a new land. At God’s command, Abram and Sarai journey to Canaan. When famine strikes, they travel to Egypt, where Sarai is taken into Pharaoh’s harem after Abram calls her his “sister,” but she escapes without harm. They then leave Egypt, with Abram now a rich man. To avoid family squabbles, Abram separates himself from his nephew Lot (who moves to Sodom), but Abram is forced to rescue Lot and reach a negotiated settlement with the locals. God promises him an heir. Because Sarai is barren, she offers Abram her servant (Hagar), and Hagar gives birth to a son, Ishmael. Abram is then promised a son through Sarai, to be his true heir. Abram’s name is changed to Abraham, and Sarai’s to Sarah, in recognition of the new Covenant with God, which is then symbolized by Abraham’s circumcision.
Gen. 12:6-7 “Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinths of Moreh. The Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘I will give this land to your offspring.’”
We read this week of the appearance of Abram (to be renamed Abraham), the Biblical progenitor of the Jewish People. We also observe in this parasha, in the verse cited above, God’s promise that Abram and his descendants would inherit the Land.
Literalists will suggest that this provides a Biblical basis and justification for the modern State of Israel, a realization of God’s promise to the Jewish People. Indeed, parts of the Zionist Movement (particularly the Religious Zionists who believed that their assistance in the creation of a Jewish State would hasten the arrival of the Messiah), have made exactly that claim. Zionists of almost all stripes take note of the devotion to the Land by the Jewish People and its prayer for a new state during the centuries of the Exile.
As noted by Hillel Ben Sasson (JTS, 11/11/16), one is tempted to adopt such an understanding, given the apparently miraculous re-establishment of a Jewish State 1,800 years after its destruction. But adopting such a view, he argues, while tempting, is also dangerous. It is dangerous in part because it can be a source of hubris which can cause forgetfulness: Israel came into being not only through the valiant Zionists who “built up” the Land, but also through the United Nations, which recognized the right of Israel to exist as a free and independent member of the family of nations.
We can nevertheless connect the modern State with its Biblical predecessor on another level, and that is to be found in Abram’s life. As a newly arrived immigrant to Canaan, he travels as a nomad (and not as a landlord). He takes care to avoid quarrels with his new neighbors. Abram obtains land through purchase only after generous dealings with the local inhabitants. He demonstrates through his own actions (in his quarrel with God over the fate of Sodom) that he is a man of justice. Sasson argues that God’s promise of the Land as an inheritance was conditional: Abram was required to demonstrate a high moral character.
When we read God’s promise of the Land to Abram and his successors as conditional, we should recognize that the modern State of Israel is also bound by the character traits of its founder, or as Sasson suggests, “independence, sovereignty, and power are a political and moral test, not a possession inherently belonging to the Jewish people.” We, the Jewish People of the galut, are tied to the Land of Israel, and are obligated to help Israel succeed in this test of character.
