Hashem Promises Avram the Inheritance of Eretz Yisrael for his Children:
Having predicted to Avram the birth of a son, Hashem now also promised him that his descendants would inherit Eretz Yisrael.
"How can I be sure of it?" asked Avram. "Give me a sign that they will actually inherit the Land!"
Avram's reason for seeking a sign was his fear that as soon as his descendants would sin, Hashem would not allow them to continue living in the Holy Land.
Hashem assured Avram, "Even if they will sin, I have prepared a means of atonement for them, the korbanos (sacrifices)." Hashem then demonstrated to Avram the nature of the future korbanos by telling him to prepare three bullocks, three goats, three rams, a dove, and a turtledove, representing the various offerings.
Hashem commanded Avram to cut the animals into parts, except for one bird, symbolizing the Halacha that only the olah-sacrifice of a bird is cut, but not the chatas-sacrifice.
Then Hashem revealed to Avram a vision of the distant future. A heavy sleep fell upon Avram during which he perceived his children enslaved in the Egyptian exile. "I shall redeem them from the Egyptian exile and also punish their tormentors," Hashem announced. The vision continued. Avram saw his children led away from their land to be taken to four different exiles, first the Babylonian exile, then the Median exile, then the Greek exile, and finally the Roman exile.
"You should know," Hashem told him, "that just as I punished their Egyptian adversaries, so shall I judge all tormentors of the Jewish people. You should know that just as I dispersed them, so will I gather them in. You should know that just as I enslaved them, so will I redeem them,"
Hashem then explained to Avram, ?Instead of banishing them from their land to atone for their sins, I have another alternative." Avram envisioned a new picture, a blazing furnace of Gehinnom. "Instead of punishment in this world," Hashem explained to him, "it is possible to be cleansed from sin by the fire of Gehinnon in olam haba (the world to come). Now Avram, choose! Which of the two do you want your descendants to experience if they sin, Gehinnon or exile?"
The choice was agonizing for Avram. On the one hand, he knew that tribulations in this transitory world are easier to bear than the suffering of Gehinnom. Yet, how could he request exile for his children, uncertain that they would survive it? Perhaps they would assimilate among the nations and disappear altogether? It was only when Hashem assured Avram that the Jewish people would never cease to exist on the map of history, even in exile, that Avram voted for exile-punishment.
Hashem made a covenant with Avram known as the "Covenant Between the Parts," promising him that his descendants would drive out the ten nations living in the land of Canaan (seven in the time of Yehoshua and three more in Mashiach's time) and that they would take possession of Eretz Yisrael.
[Rabbi Moshe Weissman, The Midrash Says, p.146-8]
THE CHASSIDIC DIMENSION
The Birth of a Nation:
The Torah portion of Lech Lecha opens with G-d saying to Avraham: "Go away from your land and birthplace...I will make you into a great nation."
Why does the Torah not preface this statement by mentioning at least briefly that Avraham was a G-d-fearing individual, similar to the way Noach is introduced with the statement, " Noach was a righteous man"? Surely such a statement would be appropriate with regard to Avraham, for the Midrashic literature is replete with incidents that testify to his piety, righteousness and self-sacrificing devotion to G-d while still living in Ur Casdim and Charan.
The Jewish nation begins with Avraham, the first Jew. Yet, his sterling qualities notwithstanding, his selection by G-d from among all the people on Earth only came about when G-d said to him, "Go away from Your land." The Torah begins its narrative with this command in order to indicate the essential qualities of Avraham in particular, as well as of the Jewish people as a whole.
The relationship of all the other nations with the Creator results from their knowledge and understanding of Him. This causes them to bind themselves to Him and obey His laws. By contrast, the Jewish people's relationship with G-d and their own existence as a nation is primarily based on the fact that it was G-d who chose them, not that they uplifted themselves to come to know Him and to bind themselves to Him.
Since this relationship emanates from G-d and not from man, it is readily understandable that Jews are not only a more elevated category of created beings, but are in fact qualitatively different. All created beings are and remain created entities; Jews, however, are essentially a G-dly entity that is found within the context of creation.
The same is true with regard to the contrast between the commandments given to the Jewish people and those commanded to other nations. There is not merely a quantitative difference (between seven and 613), but a qualitative difference as well.
The main function of the commandments given to non-Jews is to ensure an orderly world and to refine the world and man, so that both the world as a whole and man in particular conduct themselves properly. This is also why all the commandments of the various nations can be performed solely out of logical imperative. The mitzvos given by G-d to the Jewish people, however, are quite different. Not only are they given for the sake of purifying man and the world, but most importantly in order to effect "unification and attachment" with G-d.
Since Creator and created are separated by an infinite gulf, it is self-evident that just as created beings are as nothing in G-d's eyes, the same is true of their service. The only way that "unification and attachment" can be achieved between Creator and created is for G-d to choose this unification as a result of the fulfillment of His commands.
This concept is stressed in the Torah at the very beginning of the first Jewish relationship with G-d. It was not Avraham's own unique qualities and his personal divine service that singled him out; rather, G-d chose him. His "union and attachment" to G-d resulted from his being chosen and commanded by G-d, and from his fulfillment of His commands.
Based on Likkuiei Sichos, Vol. XXV, pp. 47-50.
[The Chassidic Dimension, Interpretations of the Weekly Torah Readings and the Festivals, Based on the Talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, Volume 1. pp. 12-13]
In Sarah's Merit:
The Torah portion of Lech Lecha relates how Avraham and his wife Sarah went to Egypt to escape the famine in the land of Canaan. Before they arrived in Egypt Avraham said to Sarah: "I realize that you are a good-looking woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife,' and kill me, allowing you to live. Please say that you are my sister. They will then be good to me for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you."
The classical commentaries ask: How could Avraham have placed Sarah in a position of potential danger, allowing her to be taken to Pharaoh's palace, in order for his own life to be saved? Even more puzzling is Avraham's ability to think about the benefits he would receive by placing his wife in such jeopardy. Even if Avraham were forced to let Sarah be taken in order to spare his life, how could he possibly say, "They will then be good to me...?
Earlier on, G-d had promised Avraham that by leaving his birthplace and going to Canaan he would - among other things - be blessed with wealth. Avraham was sure that this forced departure from Canaan to go to Egypt was in some way related to this blessing. Seeing his journey to Egypt as a possible vehicle for G-d's blessing of wealth - "They will then be good to me," Avraham asked Sarah to "Please say that you are my sister."
Spiritually as well, Avraham's departure from his birthplace was intended to enable him to attain spiritual elevation by sifting and refining the sparks of holiness found within the physical world. This, too, was the spiritual intent of his journey to Egypt - to elevate the "lost" sparks of holiness found there.
The performance of mitzvos, whose overall purpose is the spiritual refinement of the physical world, is to be done, as a rule, through natural means. Avraham therefore said to Sarah, "Please say that you are my sister," for by doing so, "They will then be good to me." By being granted material gifts Avraham's mission of elevating the materiality that came into his possession would be fulfilled in as natural a manner as possible.
The question, however, remains: How could Avraham allow Sarah be drawn into a situation where she might possibly become dishonored, for the sake of his personal benefit? "G-d has many agents through which He provides [physical as well as spiritual] sustenance to those who fear Him;" should Avraham not have relied on G-d to help him in a manner that would not cause Sarah to face such great anguish?
The Zohar answers this question by stating that Avraham "did not rely on his own merit but rather on the merit of his wife - that he would acquire wealth in her merit, for one acquires wealth in the merit of one's wife."
Spiritually as well, Avraham's descent into Egypt for the sake of "spiritual wealth" could only be accomplished in the merit of Sarah. Toward that end she had to descend to Pharaoh's house.
Since the ultimate intent of the descent into Egypt could only be accomplished in this manner, the Zohar concludes that Avraham was correct in "relying on Sarah's merit; in her merit he would not be harmed, nor would any harm befall her."
In spiritual terms, Avraham and Sarah are symbolic of soul and body respectively. That both of them had to descend to Egypt in order for them to accomplish their spiritual missions in life, teaches us a lesson as well. Only through partnership with the body can the soul reach its supreme elevation.
Based on Likkuiei Sichos, Vol. XX, pp. 38-41.
[The Chassidic Dimension, Interpretations of the Weekly Torah Readings and the Festivals, Based on the Talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, Volume 1. pp. 14-16]
Circumcision as a Spiritual Catalyst:
Accordingly, we may assume that the week following Parshas Lech Lecha is certainly a happy one, for at this point the Torah speaks of Avraham Avinu's spiritual state after his circumcision, which elevated him incomparably.
Now even before the circumcision, and even before the command to "go forth from your land," Avraham Avinu was at a lofty level. In the words of my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], in the sicha (discourse) of Simchas Torah, 5710 [1949], Avraham Avinu was then a Jew of 75, master of many estates and master of all areas of his conduct. He had attained all the levels that he could have possibly attained by his own efforts, including even the level [in the apprehension of Divinity] known as the Wisdom concealed from any concept.
And at that point he was commanded to "go forth from your land," i.e., to elevate himself to an even loftier level, and then he was commanded further concerning the circumcision. From this we may gain some notion of the sublime level, which his circumcision enabled him to attain.
To explain: All of his spiritual levels and accomplishments before the circumcision were secured by dint of his own avodah (work), because they were of a kind that stand in some proportion to finite created beings. The mitzvah of circumcision, in contrast, elicits a flow of divine lights so sublime that they utterly transcend the created universe and Seder Hishtalshelus, the chainlike scheme of orderly descent by which divine light is progressively contracted. These are lights so sublime that they cannot be drawn downward by mortal avodah: they are granted from above as a gift. Of this divine gift it is written, "And the L-rd your G-d will circumcise your heart. In such a case, the function of man is merely to remove the foreskin that derives from the kelipos (the opposite of holiness). This preparation makes it possible for the divine lights to then descend spontaneously.
Furthermore, the mitzvah of circumcision upgrades the individual out of all proportion to his former spiritual state - like birth. A newborn infant is a new entity, a manifestation in this nether world of infinite power of the Ein Sof (as is explained in Chassidus).
From this we may grasp how great is the joy of the week following Parshas Lech Lecha, when we live with Avraham Avinu after he had attained the heights made accessible by the mitzvah of circumcision. This joy continues in the following weeks and throughout the entire year as well, just explained by my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], the transcendent spirutual energy drawn down on Simcha's Torah is the makkif elyon haklali (the general high encompassing divine light) which incorporates all the makkifim of the entire year.)
[Proceeding Together, Volume 3, p.100-2]
The Promise of Eretz Yisrael:
Why is the promise of Eretz Yisrael to Avraham's descendants mentioned in connection with circumcision? Circumcision reflects the unification of the spiritual and the physical in one's person, while the relationship between the Jews and Eretz Yisrael reflects the unification of spirituality and physicality in the world at large.
In this sense, the attainment of physical Eretz Yisrael represents the culmination of Avraham's spiritual journey. For the most complete departure from any cultural environment is reflected in the transformation of that environment. Thus the fulfillment of G-d's command for Avraham to break the chains of material existence (lech lecha) comes about as his descendants struggle to transform Eretz Yisrael into a dwelling fit for G-d.
The promise of Eretz Yisrael will not truly be fulfilled until the Era of the Redemption. In that sense, the journey that began with the command lech lecha remains as ongoing mission for all of Avraham's descendants. Until the coming of Mashiach, we must be constantly exceeding our spiritual limitations, striving to bring our environment and ourselves to fulfillment.
[In the Garden of Torah, volume 1, p. 19]
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Compiled by: www.Neshamaart.com
Having predicted to Avram the birth of a son, Hashem now also promised him that his descendants would inherit Eretz Yisrael.
"How can I be sure of it?" asked Avram. "Give me a sign that they will actually inherit the Land!"
Avram's reason for seeking a sign was his fear that as soon as his descendants would sin, Hashem would not allow them to continue living in the Holy Land.
Hashem assured Avram, "Even if they will sin, I have prepared a means of atonement for them, the korbanos (sacrifices)." Hashem then demonstrated to Avram the nature of the future korbanos by telling him to prepare three bullocks, three goats, three rams, a dove, and a turtledove, representing the various offerings.
Hashem commanded Avram to cut the animals into parts, except for one bird, symbolizing the Halacha that only the olah-sacrifice of a bird is cut, but not the chatas-sacrifice.
Then Hashem revealed to Avram a vision of the distant future. A heavy sleep fell upon Avram during which he perceived his children enslaved in the Egyptian exile. "I shall redeem them from the Egyptian exile and also punish their tormentors," Hashem announced. The vision continued. Avram saw his children led away from their land to be taken to four different exiles, first the Babylonian exile, then the Median exile, then the Greek exile, and finally the Roman exile.
"You should know," Hashem told him, "that just as I punished their Egyptian adversaries, so shall I judge all tormentors of the Jewish people. You should know that just as I dispersed them, so will I gather them in. You should know that just as I enslaved them, so will I redeem them,"
Hashem then explained to Avram, ?Instead of banishing them from their land to atone for their sins, I have another alternative." Avram envisioned a new picture, a blazing furnace of Gehinnom. "Instead of punishment in this world," Hashem explained to him, "it is possible to be cleansed from sin by the fire of Gehinnon in olam haba (the world to come). Now Avram, choose! Which of the two do you want your descendants to experience if they sin, Gehinnon or exile?"
The choice was agonizing for Avram. On the one hand, he knew that tribulations in this transitory world are easier to bear than the suffering of Gehinnom. Yet, how could he request exile for his children, uncertain that they would survive it? Perhaps they would assimilate among the nations and disappear altogether? It was only when Hashem assured Avram that the Jewish people would never cease to exist on the map of history, even in exile, that Avram voted for exile-punishment.
Hashem made a covenant with Avram known as the "Covenant Between the Parts," promising him that his descendants would drive out the ten nations living in the land of Canaan (seven in the time of Yehoshua and three more in Mashiach's time) and that they would take possession of Eretz Yisrael.
[Rabbi Moshe Weissman, The Midrash Says, p.146-8]
THE CHASSIDIC DIMENSION
The Birth of a Nation:
The Torah portion of Lech Lecha opens with G-d saying to Avraham: "Go away from your land and birthplace...I will make you into a great nation."
Why does the Torah not preface this statement by mentioning at least briefly that Avraham was a G-d-fearing individual, similar to the way Noach is introduced with the statement, " Noach was a righteous man"? Surely such a statement would be appropriate with regard to Avraham, for the Midrashic literature is replete with incidents that testify to his piety, righteousness and self-sacrificing devotion to G-d while still living in Ur Casdim and Charan.
The Jewish nation begins with Avraham, the first Jew. Yet, his sterling qualities notwithstanding, his selection by G-d from among all the people on Earth only came about when G-d said to him, "Go away from Your land." The Torah begins its narrative with this command in order to indicate the essential qualities of Avraham in particular, as well as of the Jewish people as a whole.
The relationship of all the other nations with the Creator results from their knowledge and understanding of Him. This causes them to bind themselves to Him and obey His laws. By contrast, the Jewish people's relationship with G-d and their own existence as a nation is primarily based on the fact that it was G-d who chose them, not that they uplifted themselves to come to know Him and to bind themselves to Him.
Since this relationship emanates from G-d and not from man, it is readily understandable that Jews are not only a more elevated category of created beings, but are in fact qualitatively different. All created beings are and remain created entities; Jews, however, are essentially a G-dly entity that is found within the context of creation.
The same is true with regard to the contrast between the commandments given to the Jewish people and those commanded to other nations. There is not merely a quantitative difference (between seven and 613), but a qualitative difference as well.
The main function of the commandments given to non-Jews is to ensure an orderly world and to refine the world and man, so that both the world as a whole and man in particular conduct themselves properly. This is also why all the commandments of the various nations can be performed solely out of logical imperative. The mitzvos given by G-d to the Jewish people, however, are quite different. Not only are they given for the sake of purifying man and the world, but most importantly in order to effect "unification and attachment" with G-d.
Since Creator and created are separated by an infinite gulf, it is self-evident that just as created beings are as nothing in G-d's eyes, the same is true of their service. The only way that "unification and attachment" can be achieved between Creator and created is for G-d to choose this unification as a result of the fulfillment of His commands.
This concept is stressed in the Torah at the very beginning of the first Jewish relationship with G-d. It was not Avraham's own unique qualities and his personal divine service that singled him out; rather, G-d chose him. His "union and attachment" to G-d resulted from his being chosen and commanded by G-d, and from his fulfillment of His commands.
Based on Likkuiei Sichos, Vol. XXV, pp. 47-50.
[The Chassidic Dimension, Interpretations of the Weekly Torah Readings and the Festivals, Based on the Talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, Volume 1. pp. 12-13]
In Sarah's Merit:
The Torah portion of Lech Lecha relates how Avraham and his wife Sarah went to Egypt to escape the famine in the land of Canaan. Before they arrived in Egypt Avraham said to Sarah: "I realize that you are a good-looking woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife,' and kill me, allowing you to live. Please say that you are my sister. They will then be good to me for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you."
The classical commentaries ask: How could Avraham have placed Sarah in a position of potential danger, allowing her to be taken to Pharaoh's palace, in order for his own life to be saved? Even more puzzling is Avraham's ability to think about the benefits he would receive by placing his wife in such jeopardy. Even if Avraham were forced to let Sarah be taken in order to spare his life, how could he possibly say, "They will then be good to me...?
Earlier on, G-d had promised Avraham that by leaving his birthplace and going to Canaan he would - among other things - be blessed with wealth. Avraham was sure that this forced departure from Canaan to go to Egypt was in some way related to this blessing. Seeing his journey to Egypt as a possible vehicle for G-d's blessing of wealth - "They will then be good to me," Avraham asked Sarah to "Please say that you are my sister."
Spiritually as well, Avraham's departure from his birthplace was intended to enable him to attain spiritual elevation by sifting and refining the sparks of holiness found within the physical world. This, too, was the spiritual intent of his journey to Egypt - to elevate the "lost" sparks of holiness found there.
The performance of mitzvos, whose overall purpose is the spiritual refinement of the physical world, is to be done, as a rule, through natural means. Avraham therefore said to Sarah, "Please say that you are my sister," for by doing so, "They will then be good to me." By being granted material gifts Avraham's mission of elevating the materiality that came into his possession would be fulfilled in as natural a manner as possible.
The question, however, remains: How could Avraham allow Sarah be drawn into a situation where she might possibly become dishonored, for the sake of his personal benefit? "G-d has many agents through which He provides [physical as well as spiritual] sustenance to those who fear Him;" should Avraham not have relied on G-d to help him in a manner that would not cause Sarah to face such great anguish?
The Zohar answers this question by stating that Avraham "did not rely on his own merit but rather on the merit of his wife - that he would acquire wealth in her merit, for one acquires wealth in the merit of one's wife."
Spiritually as well, Avraham's descent into Egypt for the sake of "spiritual wealth" could only be accomplished in the merit of Sarah. Toward that end she had to descend to Pharaoh's house.
Since the ultimate intent of the descent into Egypt could only be accomplished in this manner, the Zohar concludes that Avraham was correct in "relying on Sarah's merit; in her merit he would not be harmed, nor would any harm befall her."
In spiritual terms, Avraham and Sarah are symbolic of soul and body respectively. That both of them had to descend to Egypt in order for them to accomplish their spiritual missions in life, teaches us a lesson as well. Only through partnership with the body can the soul reach its supreme elevation.
Based on Likkuiei Sichos, Vol. XX, pp. 38-41.
[The Chassidic Dimension, Interpretations of the Weekly Torah Readings and the Festivals, Based on the Talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, Volume 1. pp. 14-16]
Circumcision as a Spiritual Catalyst:
Accordingly, we may assume that the week following Parshas Lech Lecha is certainly a happy one, for at this point the Torah speaks of Avraham Avinu's spiritual state after his circumcision, which elevated him incomparably.
Now even before the circumcision, and even before the command to "go forth from your land," Avraham Avinu was at a lofty level. In the words of my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], in the sicha (discourse) of Simchas Torah, 5710 [1949], Avraham Avinu was then a Jew of 75, master of many estates and master of all areas of his conduct. He had attained all the levels that he could have possibly attained by his own efforts, including even the level [in the apprehension of Divinity] known as the Wisdom concealed from any concept.
And at that point he was commanded to "go forth from your land," i.e., to elevate himself to an even loftier level, and then he was commanded further concerning the circumcision. From this we may gain some notion of the sublime level, which his circumcision enabled him to attain.
To explain: All of his spiritual levels and accomplishments before the circumcision were secured by dint of his own avodah (work), because they were of a kind that stand in some proportion to finite created beings. The mitzvah of circumcision, in contrast, elicits a flow of divine lights so sublime that they utterly transcend the created universe and Seder Hishtalshelus, the chainlike scheme of orderly descent by which divine light is progressively contracted. These are lights so sublime that they cannot be drawn downward by mortal avodah: they are granted from above as a gift. Of this divine gift it is written, "And the L-rd your G-d will circumcise your heart. In such a case, the function of man is merely to remove the foreskin that derives from the kelipos (the opposite of holiness). This preparation makes it possible for the divine lights to then descend spontaneously.
Furthermore, the mitzvah of circumcision upgrades the individual out of all proportion to his former spiritual state - like birth. A newborn infant is a new entity, a manifestation in this nether world of infinite power of the Ein Sof (as is explained in Chassidus).
From this we may grasp how great is the joy of the week following Parshas Lech Lecha, when we live with Avraham Avinu after he had attained the heights made accessible by the mitzvah of circumcision. This joy continues in the following weeks and throughout the entire year as well, just explained by my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe [Rayatz], the transcendent spirutual energy drawn down on Simcha's Torah is the makkif elyon haklali (the general high encompassing divine light) which incorporates all the makkifim of the entire year.)
[Proceeding Together, Volume 3, p.100-2]
The Promise of Eretz Yisrael:
Why is the promise of Eretz Yisrael to Avraham's descendants mentioned in connection with circumcision? Circumcision reflects the unification of the spiritual and the physical in one's person, while the relationship between the Jews and Eretz Yisrael reflects the unification of spirituality and physicality in the world at large.
In this sense, the attainment of physical Eretz Yisrael represents the culmination of Avraham's spiritual journey. For the most complete departure from any cultural environment is reflected in the transformation of that environment. Thus the fulfillment of G-d's command for Avraham to break the chains of material existence (lech lecha) comes about as his descendants struggle to transform Eretz Yisrael into a dwelling fit for G-d.
The promise of Eretz Yisrael will not truly be fulfilled until the Era of the Redemption. In that sense, the journey that began with the command lech lecha remains as ongoing mission for all of Avraham's descendants. Until the coming of Mashiach, we must be constantly exceeding our spiritual limitations, striving to bring our environment and ourselves to fulfillment.
[In the Garden of Torah, volume 1, p. 19]
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Compiled by: www.Neshamaart.com