“Lech Lecha – go yourself
Rashi: Lech Lecha refers to “for your pleasure and for your good”
Divrei Mordechai: The careful distinction that Rashi makes derives from the double language “Lech Lecha”. (The double language comes to teach us the principle that Hashem is telling Avraham to make his journey) for his own pleasure and for his own good. Nonetheless, we need to investigate what is the definition of pleasure and good and what is the difference between them.
It appears that there are activities that are pleasurable, but are not ultimately for a person’s own good (e.g. eating crème brulle every night for dinner – EM), and (similarly) there are activities which are good for a person but not necessarily pleasurable (e.g. taking terribly tasting medicine as a kid – EM). And this was therefore Gd’s promise to Avraham, that his departure would lead to activities which would be both pleasurable and for his own good, i.e. leading to his ultimate purpose. (We should work on getting both pleasure and goodness from this world at the same time, e.g. having a great meal and taking a moment to thank Hashem , or even better, having a great meal and sharing it with someone who is in need– EM)
V’escha l’goi gadol - “And I will make you into a great nation”
Rashi comments: “that I will make known your goodness throughout the world”’
Divrei Mordechai: It seems to me that Avraham was different from the other tzaddikim in the world in that he chose to mix with and worrying about people, young and oldindescriminantly, to bring them under the wings of the Sheckinah. (When Avraham) formed a pact with Avimelech and planted an Eshel tree, we learn in the Gemarrah that these events refer to the fact that Avraham was actually establishing an inn, all for a single purpose which was to gather close to himself young, old, even small children and to serve them all.
This (example of Avraham) stands in contrast to previous tzaddikim who kept to themselves day and night in their service of Hashem, and thereby deprived other people of the benefit of seeing their example of how to serve Hashem, and were not able to benefit from the natural admonishment and examples in serving Hashem by seeing his ways and actions. Alternatively, (when previous tzaddikim would involve themselves with others lives) they would focus on a single category, such as the young or the old, but few would indiscriminantly involve themselves with every category of person, but such was the way of Avraham Our Father. (When person is interested in all of mankind, he is showing that everyone is created in the image of Gd, he is respecting everything and demonstrating that nothing is devoid of Gds goodness – EM)
“Young adolescent boys, young adolescent girls, the elderly and small children (Psalms), (In this passage, King David refers to everything in existence has the requirement to – as it were – sing praises to Hashem).
We learn in the Gemarrah that Avraham Our Father printed a coin. On one side was a young adolescent boy and a young adolescent girl, and on the other side was an old woman and an old man. (This coin was meant) to hint to the fact that Avraham involved himself in people of all ages and all walks of life, actuating the principle referred to in the above psalm – that the entire world will sing praises to Hashem.
A coin which is going to be passed from hand to hand can not be made of any metal, rather it must be made of very sturdy material.
And this then is what Hashem was telling Avraham, “I will make you known in the world”, (a phrase which derives from the way we refer to a coin), specifically a coin on which you will place a young girl and young boy on one side, and an elderly woman and elderly man on the other, all referring to your specific work, which is to bring them all under the wings of the Shechinah, and this coin signifies the praises that will be created (by the people you effect), and which will be received. “
D’var Torah on the Occasion of the 75th Birthday of Gershom Taub
ReplyDeleteIt is commonly known that one of the difficulties of being a convert or ger is that one both leaves one’s homeland, and enters a homeland whose welcome can not be taken for granted. Human nature being what it is, one can not necessarily count on the acceptance and “tribal” commonality that one born into Judaism takes literally as a birthright.
If this were not the case, there would be no need for the Torah to encourage us to love the ger. Perhaps on the surface this mitzvah is given us to provide a constant recognition of the respect and admiration due a person who willingly chooses the strictures of Judaism, the closeness to Gd. But one can not escape the implication as well that it is an admonishment to go against our nature which is to feel an almost haughty superiority for having been born into Judaism. The implication is that this error is a natural inclination.
At the same time the convert leaves the tribal support of his own family, gives up for good a certain common bond which he will never share again. Let alone never celebrating treasured family holidays with so many relatives, he has implicitly rejected their most fundamental values --- and it is hard for them to ever give up the sense that he has also rejected them.
So the ger becomes a permanent emotional immigrant of sorts with no promise of a homeland. How much then must we admire the courage of a person who takes this step. In the case of Gershom, he has taken this step three times, and perhaps for three separate reasons of greater and greater import.
When he converted to become married, we can perhaps say that the provocation was love of Rhea, and a willingness to do what was necessary to live out that love. When he converted in the conservative manner, it was through a sense of intellectual and emotional bondedness that compelled him to seek a deeper meaning in his new homeland of Judaism, a desire for a sense of self and connection. When he converted for the final time in the Orthodox manner, it was out of self-abnegation, not because he wanted to have a self in his new land, but because he recognized the he, that all of us, can not fully be present in the world without finding ourselves in the presence of Hashem.
The parasha Lech Lecha recapitulates this journey, as Avraham himself undergoes a kind of geures, leaving his homeland for an uncertain place (Lech Lecha), promised that he will ultimately be somebody (I will make you into a great nation), and finally required to perform the ultimate act of self-abnegation, (the commanded sacrifice of his son).
It is therefore no accident that Avraham’s mission in this world is to bring all of humanity, everyone young and old, Jewish and non-Jewish (there was of course no distinction and still isn’t) into a position of greater proximity to recognize Hashem. Avraham uniquely could perform this function because he himself took all of the steps a man can take on the journey.
It is therefore true that not only are we Jews mistaken to draw any distinction ultimately between Jews and non-Jews, “practicing” Jews and “non-practicing” Jews in how we allow our minds to construct the world. The commandments are meant to be taken seriously and practiced, but not as a way to feel superior in any way, but as an enormous privilege. It is a habit which in fact runs diametrically counter to the most fundamental example of our forefather, it is a practice of thinking which is the most un-Jewish practice of all.
Gershom in his life story, in his manner, in his quite certitude, in his self-abnegation, in his remarkable and steady growth that is never trumpeted, inspires all of us to take the steps in Avraham’s journey, to love all people the way he does, so that we may all come to our true homeland, the holy Shechinah of Gd’s presence. -JG
May this occasion serve to inspire all of us to provide interpretations of the Torah in the blessed memory of Jan Yehuda HaLevi Ben Avraham
- Jeff Gruen