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
reaches 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. 12:1 “And Adonai said to Abram, ‘Go forth
from your land and your birthplace and your father’s house to the land that I
will show you.’”
Dr. Shaiya Rothberg, writing in Torah Sparks (10/20/18) asks a basic question: why was it
necessary for Abram to leave his homeland in order for him to succeed as God’s
herald? The Sages suggested that he needed to leave a corrupt environment, but
we know that Canaan was also a corrupt environment (see, e.g., Sodom).
Rothberg cites the Sforno, who offers another
explanation: “...when it was apparent that there was no longer any hope that the human
race as a whole would repent...God then chose a pious man from among the entire
species, Avraham, and his seed, to attain through them the goal intended by God
from the moment humanity had been placed on earth.”
God knew that Avraham would teach his children to do
justice and righteousness (Gen. 18:19). So when they endured the slavery of
Egypt, they understood that an oppressed minority maintained its rights. The
root sin of Egypt was its belief that slavery and oppression were legitimate.
On the other hand, Jewish law and tradition are based on the concept that there
is to be equality between the citizen and the stranger. The state does not
grant human rights, but rather human rights give rise to the state.
Today’s so-called “alt-right” anti-Semites believe in “blood
and soil” as the basis of state authority. Nothing could be further from Jewish
tradition and law. It is also the reason
why Abram left his father’s land: his new community would not be based on “blood
and soil” but rather on the belief that all are created in God’s image and with
it a commitment to human dignity.
Our Founding Father George Washington, in his famous
letter to the Jews of Rhode Island, renounced the concept that “tolerance” was
the basis for recognizing the rights of “others.” It is indeed a basic human
right of all of us. What is asked o us? Only that we pursue justice.
