“And the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you.’"
At first glance, these three verses describe God appearing to Abram in a dream and commanding him to leave his present home and travel to an unknown destination, promising that he will be blessed by becoming the father of a great and blessed nation.
Although Abram had previously been saved miraculously when he was cast into a fiery furnace, upon awakening from this dream - the first revelation of the Creator to him - he must first convince himself that it was not merely a dream or an illusion, and that this was indeed the will of the Creator. After all, he was already a respected spiritual leader, heading a great yeshiva in Haran, while his wife Sarai headed a large women’s study center, together educating all the people they had gathered there.
Abram must become convinced of the dream’s authenticity and, no less importantly, persuade his wife Sarai, his family, and all their male and female students that it is genuine. He must then lead them all on a journey into the unknown, “to the land that I will show you."
Indeed, the Torah tells us: “And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son … and all the souls they had made in Haran." The expression “took" implies that he won them over through his words.
First, he persuades his wife Sarai to accompany him, even though ten years have passed without their having children, meaning that, from a halachic standpoint, he could have left her behind in Haran. Abram then persuades his relative, his nephew Lot, to join him rather than remain among idol worshippers. Only afterward does he approach his own students and Sarai’s female students.
He must persuade them not only that God has truly spoken to him, but also that they are being asked to join him in this adventure and set out immediately. In addition, he packs and takes all their possessions, making it clear to everyone that this is a one-way journey, with no return - for him or for those accompanying him.
Yet a deeper look reveals that these three verses embody and illuminate the foundations and destiny of the Jewish nation, whose story begins here with the father of the nation.
Unlike the angels, who are described as standing, Abraham, the chosen of the patriarchs, is commanded at the age of 75 to leave behind his established life and accomplishments in Haran and move on to the next stage. As the prophet Zechariah says, “I will grant you passage among these who stand here." The angels are those who “stand," whereas human beings - and Abraham in particular - are called upon to be those who move forward. “Go forth." Abraham, My beloved, you must not remain where you are, continuing to preside over your spiritual kingdom in Haran. You must rise and proceed toward the great destiny for which humanity has been refined over twenty generations, from Adam to Noah and from Noah to Abraham.
He must journey toward the great purpose that will culminate in the realization of the Creator’s most distinguished creation: “This people I formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise." The destiny of the Jewish people is to proclaim God’s praises throughout the world.
The famous words of American astronaut Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11, when he became the first human being to walk on the moon on the 5th of Av, 5729 (July 21, 1969), are well known: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
In my opinion, Abraham’s first steps toward the Land of Israel, and toward the birth of the Jewish nation as it embarked on the fulfillment of its exalted mission, deserve at least as much - and far greater - significance.
It is fitting that the Children of Israel proclaim God’s praise from the Land of Israel, and specifically from there to all humanity. The Land of Israel is the land of which God told Abram: “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward, eastward and westward" (Genesis 13:14).
The Holy Land is where the world was created, and from which the earth’s boundaries were established. As the Talmud states in Yoma 54b regarding the Foundation Stone, from which the world was established: “The world was created from Zion."
This is why the Meshech Chochmah explains that Abraham was given “the center of creation and the purpose of all that was created."
The Land of Israel is holier than all other lands and is under the direct providence of the Almighty. Even when it falls into the hands of foreigners, its sanctity is never nullified. Indeed, not only does its holiness endure, but the land itself seems to withhold its produce until its children return.
This principle is reflected in our parasha. God gives the land to Abram even though “the Canaanite was then in the land." Later, Abraham must purchase the field containing the Cave of Machpelah, despite the fact that the land has already been promised to him and is imbued with God’s holiness.
The Ramban explains that we should not be surprised that the Canaanites continue to possess and conquer the land; their hold on it is temporary. Had the land been in the hands of the descendants of Shem, Abraham’s descendants, who also belong to Shem’s lineage, would not have been entitled to take it from them. But since it was in the hands of the descendants of the cursed Canaan, Abraham’s descendants would justly take possession of it. As the Torah states: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and may Canaan be a slave to them" (Genesis 9:26).
The Meshech Chochmah explains that God was telling Abram: Although, on the earthly level, you see no evidence that the land belongs to you - since the Canaanite is still there, clinging to it like a dog and drawing sustenance from it - you must nevertheless lift your eyes heavenward and contemplate the spiritual dimension of divine providence and governance. “See, I have given you the whole land." The land is yours as well, sanctified with the holiness befitting you and your descendants. He develops this idea on the basis of the holy Zohar.
The world was founded upon the Foundation Stone. Adam, the first man, was created here, and from this place the Jewish people would become a light unto the nations.
Abraham’s journey is therefore not merely geographical. It is an ascent in spiritual stature: “to the land that I will show you."
In this land, our father Abraham would rise to a new level - not merely through his belief in one God, nor merely through a dream in which he encountered the Creator, but through a level of vision.
Indeed, when he arrived in Canaan, the Land of Israel, and received the promises concerning both his descendants and the land, the Torah tells us: “He built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him" (Genesis 12:7). This is the spiritual dimension of the verse, “From my flesh I behold God" (Job 19:26).
At the beginning of Abraham’s journey, the Torah uses the language of speech: “And the Lord said to Abram." But upon his arrival in Canaan, he attained the level of vision.
The Meshech Chochmah continues by explaining that Abraham rejoiced greatly over both promises - the promise of descendants and the promise of the Land of Israel, as Rashi and Bereishit Rabbah (39:16) note. Yet he rejoiced even more over having attained the level of vision in his relationship with the Almighty. That is why he built an altar: “He built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him."
In the words of the Ramban, Abraham “gave thanks to the exalted Lord and offered Him a thanksgiving sacrifice because He had appeared to him. Until then, He had not appeared to him, either in a vision or in a prophetic revelation. For ‘Go forth from your land’ had been spoken in a dream at night."
The Ramban concludes that the discerning reader will understand that “the Lord appeared to Abram" describes a higher level of prophecy than any of the earlier instances in which the Torah says, “The Lord said to Abram." The expression “appeared" denotes full prophetic revelation.
The holy Or HaChaim expresses a similar idea. He writes that the verse reveals “the extraordinary love Abraham had for his Creator." Although God had indeed appeared to him and blessed him with descendants and the gift of the land, Abraham did not consider either of these great blessings worthy of comparison with the joy he felt at the revelation of the Divine Presence.
The Torah, the Or HaChaim explains, tells us the reason for Abraham’s joy, which led him to build the altar: God Himself had appeared to him.
The Kli Yakar adds that God did not appear to Abraham immediately when He commanded him, “Go forth," because Abraham was still outside the Land of Israel, following the view of Ibn Ezra that the Divine Presence does not reveal itself in the same way outside the Land. He cites the prophet Jonah as evidence, based on the Mekhilta (Bo 12:4).
Consequently, God did not appear to Abraham in a vision at that stage. Abraham heard words alone, and for this reason he did not build an altar there, in a place where the Divine Presence does not dwell in the same manner.
What, then, is this level of vision?
Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk offers a profound explanation. Attaining an awareness of the existence and glory of the Almighty is difficult because the soul is concealed within the coarse materiality of the human body, which separates it from our Father in Heaven.
We therefore need the Torah, which serves as an instrument of vision - in his metaphor, a microscope - to refine our material nature and remove its impure coverings until we return to the state in which we existed before birth, resembling Adam before the sin.
When the Temple was destroyed, an iron barrier arose between Israel and their Father in Heaven: the barrier of materiality, which obstructs the radiance of divine providence as it might otherwise be perceived by Israel through a clear and luminous lens.
The Torah is therefore an instrument of vision, a kind of microscope that magnifies our capacity to perceive the Divine a thousandfold beyond our present condition. The perfect, divine power can refine physical existence until it becomes clear and polished enough to serve as a lens through which the Divine can be perceived.
This is the meaning of the verse, “From my flesh I behold God." Through the flesh-the coarse material of the body, with its physical eyes-I can perceive an enlarged vision of the Divine.
Adam, who was created on Mount Moriah-the name Moriah being associated with both vision and instruction-originally stood on this exalted spiritual level. It was there, on the Temple Mount, that he offered his sacrifice.
Before his sin, Adam’s physical nature was pure, clear and refined. Nothing obstructed his perception of the glory of God, which is why he walked naked. As the Meshech Chochmah explains, a spiritually discerning person has no need to cover his nakedness; it is no more significant to him than the place where the tefillin are worn.
But when Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge, his nature became coarse and material, abruptly separating him from a true apprehension of God and from closeness to Him.
The material dimension of his being, together with the negative forces within it, gave rise to desire, destructive character traits such as anger and vengeance, and false imaginings. Adam and Eve therefore became aware that they were naked and felt ashamed.
As a result, Adam and Eve could only hear God's voice in the Garden. They heard, but did not see, His glory. “I heard Your voice," Adam tells the Almighty, but he did not see His glory. What, then, did he see? “I was afraid because I was naked." He recognized that a barrier had arisen between himself and his Father in Heaven.
Indeed, from the time of Adam’s sin onward, the Torah records only the expression “the Lord said"-speech alone. Only when Abraham arrived in the Land of Israel was his material nature sufficiently refined for him to attain the spiritual level of Adam before the sin.
This is the meaning of the verse: “The Lord appeared to Abram and said…" Abraham had attained a level of perception unimpeded by materiality. That is why he “built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him."
The Almighty uses similar language when speaking of the holy patriarchs: “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." He revealed Himself to them at the height of their spiritual attainment.
A similar spiritual dimension is present in Moses’ vision of the Land of Israel, even though he was not permitted to enter it. His was a spiritual vision.
We learn, then, that through the two powerful words “Lech Lecha"-“Go forth"-and the three opening verses of our parasha, the Creator reveals to our father Abraham, whom He calls “Abraham, My beloved," the exalted role he is to play in laying the foundations of the Jewish nation in the Land of Israel.
For this purpose, Abraham receives five promises and revelations.
First, he is promised descendants: the continuity through which God’s creation of the Jewish nation will come into being.
Second, the Land of Israel is given to him and his descendants forever.
Third, the Land of Israel is the home of Abraham and of his descendants after him-Isaac, Jacob and the Children of Israel-from which they will proclaim the glory and wonders of God’s name to the world.
Fourth, specifically in the Land of Israel, where the Divine Presence dwells, Abraham-and those who follow him, Isaac and Jacob-will merit the removal of the material barrier separating humanity from God. They will thereby attain the highest level of closeness to the Almighty, comparable to that enjoyed by Adam before the sin. As the Psalmist declares: “But as for me, the nearness of God is my good" (Psalms 73:28).
And fifth, the good of Israel is the good of the entire world. On the one hand, God promises, “I will bless those who bless you"; on the other, “those who curse you I will curse." Through the recognition of this divine providence, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you."