Genesis Cycle Four Lech Lecha

Lech Lecha



It’s time.

Time to zero-in and open our eyes and see what might be sucking the light right out of our veins. It’s time to face it and know one thing: God has not placed us on this earth to be brought down, torn down, stripped of radiance. God has not placed us here to sit dumb on infertile ground, to pour pessimism down our throats. Yes, we may know that plan. We may know exactly what will happen if we keep doing the same dance-around-the-drought. Because (as our light is being sucked right out of us) we can think it’s good. After all, we know where we stand and why.

We can think….This is good. At least we know the players in this behavioral quicksand. Yes, it is a known place. It is known gods, known mates, known jobs. It’s what we’re used to, what we have bought into and (God knows) we have been working this land for so long. What a waste (it feels) to leave it, move on. What a waste of moments, weeks, months of dialogue, years, decades, empires. We believe in the people around us . We trust them. We would think by leaving them we might go against the basic tenets of Judaism… of the fathers and mothers to be born after us. So we need a push, a breath, a voice with an echo crashing through our bones. Anything that will get us to a transmission-source…a flood of light we can process for the starving…so many people are starving…as we evolve and exponentially grow.

That’s when we hear it. That voice. Get out. Go out. Find a way out. Turn yourself in-sight-out. Take all you have…your secular self…your heart…your blessings…and leave this state-of-being that is keeping you stuck. Just walk. You may walk backwards at first. You may walk sideways. You start the flow though. And sooner or later you see a path widening. Others may doubt you or make assumptions. They may not think you mean it. Others may still need to grab you (from time to time) to feed their dimming hearts. But you move on. You lech lecha.

This, according to my own opinion (with the influence of Rabbi Mel Gottlieb and that of Rabbi Schlomo Carlebach…in an edition of his teachings compiled by Rabbi Schlomo Katz) is what the parsha Lech Lecha embraces. The question that I want to look at is…How?

How do we move forward?

What do we have to be aware of as we take each step? What should we look for? It is, after all, a big world out there. As Rabbi Schochet so eloquently asks…how do we remain true to ourselves spiritually and bring in what is healing from foreign cultures without being taken-in (and swallowed) by them?

We can easily apply this question to Abraham.

Because suddenly while Abraham is lech lecha-ing…we have a scene that shocks us…and horrifies feminists everywhere. Hey Sarah, Abraham says to his beautiful wife who has a radiance passed from Eve and the Garden of Eden (according to Talmudic rabbis) ….When these Egyptians see you and your beauty they will say “this is his wife” and they will kill me and you will live. So please say you are my sister.

And off sis goes to be flung into the hands of the Pharoah. The cartoonist Robert Crumb has a portrayal of Sarah at this moment. She looks pathetic. There she is, eyes cast down, surrounded by hungry Egyptians. What’s important here is that while Crumb usually supports the wild and illicit, here even he seems to be horrified by the shame and embarrassment. Later, when the Pharaoh discovers the ruse he flips and kicks them both out…but while giving them enough material possessions not only to pay for their childrens college education (symbolically) but his grandkids and great grandkids. Literally Abraham gets sheep cattle and donkeys, male and female slaves, she-donkeys, camels and silver and gold.

What can this possibly mean? Does lech lecha, this focused coming-in to self, include selfishly compromising one’s wife? Does it support some need on the part of any of us to cut off sacred relations in order to safe-guard our individual wholeness? Does lech lecha mean turning one’s beloved mate (male or female) into an ego-toy or into an object to be rejected….for some kind of gain…emotional, material or spiritual? Doesn’t this interpretation bring us right back to the drought we just managed to walk away from?

How then can we understand Abraham’s action? In order to begin, let’s try to lech lecha ourselves out of the literal way-of-thinking. In other words, let’s try and propel ourselves away from seeing Torah with only story in mind.

Moving beyond literal thinking is supported by Talmudic rabbis. Looking at Mishnah Berakhot 1:3 for example we listen to Rabbi Tarfon as he explains that he tried to recite the evening Sh’ma lying down…as instructed by the School of Shammai…but (while lying on his back on the path) he almost gets waylaid by Highwaymen. Yes, because the School of Shammai dictates a strict literal interpretation of when you lie down (the first paragraph of the Sh’ma) Rabbi Tarfon almost gets himself killed. Scholars therefore point out (given this Mishnah) that a strict literal interpretation of Torah is akin to killing Torah and/or killing ourselves.

Meanwhile, given this event with Abraham and Sarah, Talmudic rabbis jump to defend the cause of the wife. A man (we read) must always observe the honor due to his wife because blessings rest on a man’s home only on account of her (Baba Metzia 59a). We also read: if your wife is short, bend down and whisper to her. Rab says: One should always be heedful wronging his wife for since her tears are frequent she is quickly hurt.

No doubt, we must honor the literal. We must see how Sarah must feel being sent off to play with the Pharaoh. We must raise up the honor of women given this (yes) literally degrading passage.

But we take it further. In Baba Mezia we also read…the one refers to religious matters..the other refers to secular matters. Given the context of the teaching, here we receive a metaphor for male and female. No longer are we in the personal/emotional but in a new realm, one in which we can take our very genders and allow them to symbolize larger truths and realities. So, then what if the male does represent the religious…and the female represents the secular? Let’s say this is the case.

Well, first, we would remember that Abraham is both male and female…merged and separate. As we read in Torah…in the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them.

To continue, as Abraham unfolds and reaches beyond for a closer intimacy with the Divine Light the foreign reality of Mitzrayim filters in… and comes in real close. Abraham though sees what is to happen. He/she prepares, creates a survival plan, defines it, recognizes it, has dialogue about it within the deeper self. The plan is to give away the piece that will merge best with the foreign culture…so as to safeguard the soul. The secular piece…the female…will merge with the secular reality of Mitzrayim. This way, the spiritual will stand apart and be able to survive.

So…while we are on our path and doing our lech lecha it is not easy but (when threatened) we want to merge our secular reality to the overall dominating secular world…and retain the personal intimacy and sovereignty of our soul. We want to retain our lech lecha within the depths of our being and play the game (in other words). In this world, yes…we want to adapt to the customs, the styles, the laws, the way of speaking, the way of relating, the way of being. We want to cheer at the football games (if we like football) and study the history of the American Civil War, cook those sweet potatoes on thanksgiving, wear blue jeans, support our children at soccer games, take off Sundays, march for political leaders, share the same problems, even live in the same neighborhoods. We want to be American. We want to be British or French or even Israeli. But this adaptation is only necessary if it serves our expanding and awesome spiritual quest, our prayers in the morning and the evening, our study of Torah, our personal and loving reach to the millions of vibrations touching us every moment. The secular is our most peripheral coat of armor…our mainstay and tool of accessibility to a world so incredibly foreign and sometimes contrary to our deepest truths. The objective is to save Torah and thereby save ourselves.

The danger…the deep mortal danger…is in confusing the action of Abraham with truth on the literal level. Because, on the contrary, if one takes the higher path, the symbolic road, the lech lecha that really matters is against the very story itself. One treats a wife with love. One does not compromise a mate to seemingly satisfy a fear of diminishing wholeness. One brings in God and sows and harvests generations upon generations of starlit nights. One moves from the heart and acts carefully to soften all conflicts so they can be heaven-sent instead of misinterpreted as reasons for divorce. One joins with a mate as one being and sees together what must be done to ease the struggle and lech lecha to God. One raises one’s own self and in so doing raises others.

How do we apply this to today? Rebbe Nachman says there is a strength in holiness that can counteract the strength of the husks. In other words…our God-piece is stronger than our urge for the secular. Nachman continues to say (from Psalms 145:11) and they shall speak of your strength. Speech therefore, says R Nachman, is holy strength. The objective then is to say affirmations. Say I believe. Say I love. Do a lech lecha that is inclusive of those you love. Know that that which sucks the life-blood out of our veins (the most) is our own fear. Find strength. Find faith in God. Have the strength to hold on. And have the knowledge to lech lecha all by yourself if the radiance and intimacy and faith is not shared by your mate. Know how you can best serve God. Take a step. Walk. Keep walking. Know who you are.