Genesis Cycle Five Lekh Lekha

Lekh Lekha

Celebrating the Journey

In Lekh Lekha (13:3) we read that Avraham continues on his journeys, spelled l’masa’av. What does this mean?

We travel every day. Each action of our body is a journey. Think of all that happens in our brain cells just to open an eye. Sometimes we take small trips, to work, to school. Some of us fly across the ocean, drive to the next town, raft on rivers, back pack, hitchhike. We celebrate the journey. Think of Kerouac’s On the Road. Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley. Conrad’s Lord Jim. North. South. East. West. Think of our forty years of wandering. Such journeys resonate through time, stay with us. Our sages say that dreams are journeys (Berachot 9a).. Day dreams. Night dreams. Thoughts. Prayers. Visions. We are nomadic. Journeys bring healing and connection. And for this we crave.

A relationship is a journey. In a healthy one we problem-solve. We integrate the conflict. I can’t imagine Avraham divorcing Sarah for being infertile. I can’t see him saying: This is too hard. Forget this. Avraham realizes early on that he is a driving force for God. It is his responsibility to take step after step…to rise rung after rung…to a place of loving-kindness so he can satisfy his divine work here on earth.

 Looking closely at Avraham he is not described in Torah as is Noah. He is not a righteous man for his generation (Gen. 6:9). According to our sages, this poses a question. Why is Avraham not being introduced with some praise (however questionable)? My opinion is that if he was already so very righteous he would have a shorter path to travel. If Avraham can keep moving forward and transforming, step after step, the message is, so can we.

So then, as I’ve already inferred, this parshah…and Avraham’s journeys… is about more than a man dressed in mid-east garb wandering through a desert with camels and all the souls they had made (Gen.12:5). More than droughts and strange wars and ancient kings who keep taking our wives.

Now we ask why the plural form?  Why journeys (plural) and not journey (singular)? Some believe it’s to emphasize the many steps. Some are smooth. Some have bumps. We learn to integrate the bumps. When we miss the connection we don’t turn around and go home. We make reservations on the next flight. When our prayers seem to fall flat we don’t stop praying. We pray deeper. The journey of life does not mean we die at every hurdle. As we chant in the Amidah m’chayay hamatim. God brings life to the dead. Step by step He moves us through even the most terrifying circumstances.

According to the Zohar, Avraham’s unique journey means he must rise step after step by first descending. Why?  The Zohar infers we must know all of our varying moods and ways-of-being. We must know all of our joys and fears (no matter how difficult)  in order to really understand the wholeness of God (Matt translation of the Zohar, v2, 32). It’s only when we grasp these rungs…all of these masks/aspects of ourselves and reality… when we can find peace.

Here are four steps experienced by Avraham:

First: God appeared to him (Gen 12:7). This is the level of Shekhinah. His soul is in the highest light…the greatest joy. 

Second: Then he receives the soul level of nefesh…our animal-selves…. and sets up an altar.  This represents the kind of prayer we all take part in.

Third: He receives the soul-level of ruah and continues journeying. This is the place of in-between. The place of movement between moods, if you like.

Fourth: He goes up a mountain to put up another altar and there he can be at the radiant soul-place of neshamah.  This can represent the reaches of the incense altar and mind-altering prayer, when we really feel as- close-as-we-can-get to ourselves and to God.

Now, he can turn south and really face his most human emotions, his doubts, fears, anxieties. And once he is in all of these places he can attain a whole intimacy with God.  But what’s important to recognize is that he’s traveling though the darkness to get to the light. As the writer Tom Robbins has said: Yes there’s darkness but you don’t need to get stuck in it.

The whole experience, step after step, mood after mood, emotion after emotion,  is the process by which Avraham raises the Shekhinah from below to above (Zohar, Lekh Lekha 1:84a).

Of course, we all aren’t prophets and we all have different steps for our unique journeys. Sometimes, when our carry-on bag almost fits into tight over-head quarters…when our lover is a bit challenging…when the ferry has been cancelled because of foul weather…it may help to remember that we are in the process of raising the Shekhinah. Sometimes, when our visions are challenged by egos wearing the masks of kings…it may help to remember that this is holy work.

So may we remember. And may we rejoice in our oneness and celebrate our journeys with compassion, patience, courage and gratitude. Rung after rung. Step after step in the concealed and revealed miracle of Peace and God.