5784/2023

Our parshah opens with the dramatic scene of Hashem commanding Avraham to uproot and move to Israel.  We can picture the scene now, as Avraham and Sarah pack their bags and start their journey.  Yet, if we tried to really imagine the scene, there is a critical detail missing from the story. Where exactly are Avraham and Sarah when Hashem appears to Avraham?  

We often assume that Avraham was in his homeland of Ur Kasdim when Hashem appears to him commanding him to uproot himself from his homeland.  This is the approach of Ibn Ezra and the Ramban (although the Ramban suggests that Avraham’s birthplace is actually Charan, which is where he is when Hashem speaks to him).  However, Rashi suggests that Avraham had already left his homeland, along with his father, and had stopped off in Charan when Hashem appears to him and commands him to keep going to Israel.  According to this approach it seems hard to understand why Hashem tells us Avraham to leave his land and his birthplace if geographically that is not where Avraham is at the time of this command?

The Baalei Mussar suggest that Hashem was not telling Avraham to distance himself geographically from his birthplace.  Rather, Hashem was telling Avraham to separate himself from the values and messages that were being inculcated in him in his birthplace.  As he prepares for this momentous journey to Israel, it is critical that Avraham does so with the right values, with moral clarity and sensitivity to the right messages he would be receiving from Hashem.  

Rav Solovetichik so powerfully described, “When we speak about Avraham, we must always remember that the Bible is not only a book narrating events that transpired so many millennia ago.  It speaks of events that are still taking place before our eyes.  Actually, it is a book not only of Avraham but also of the destiny of our people.”  This message is particularly poignant right now as we are exposed to messages and societal approaches in regards to the ongoing terrorism that the Jewish People and Israel are experiencing.  These approaches are deeply hurtful and misguided in their lack of moral clarity and care for humanity. It is our collective responsibility to follow in the footsteps of Avraham, to remain steadfast in our moral clarity, even if or when it does not align with the accepted norms of society, and to remember that we are fortunate to stand with Medinat Yisrael in standing for what is right.  

May Hashem guard and protect Medinat Yisrael and Klal Yisrael during this Eit Tzarah.