2022/5783
When first reading the beginning of Parashat לך לך, there are several perplexing questions that pop out, beginning with the very first Pasuk: וַיֹּ֤אמֶר ה' אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ” אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ׃,” “Hashem said to Avram, ‘Go forth from your land, and from your birthplace, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you’” (BeReishit 12:1).
There is a glaringly obvious question about the phrasing, and what Hashem directs Avraham to do. Go from your land, then your birthplace, and then your father’s house? The Pasuk is backward! First one leaves their home in order to leave their birthplace in order to leave their land. So why is it phrased in such a way?
The אור החיים asks this question and resolves it in the following way: “אכן הטעם הוא להיות כי בערך צער הפרידה קטן הוא צער פרידתו מארצו מפרידת מולדתו ופרידתו ממולדתו מפרידתו מבית אביו לזה סדר ההדרגות ממטה למעלה” (ibid).
The תורה, as he explains, lists the departures per the pain Avraham would feel as he left each one. It is less painful to leave one’s country than it is to leave one’s hometown and less painful to leave one’s hometown than to leave one’s home, to which one feels the most intimate bond.
Rav Soloveitchik highlights that Hashem directed Avraham with the language of “לֶךְ־לְךָ”. Had the Torah merely wanted Avraham to visit the land of Canaan, it would have sufficed to say “לֶךְ”. The addition of “לְךָ֛” indicates that Avraham needed to not only physically abandon his home but psychologically do so as well. Avraham needed to “leave the past, to blot out his memory…לֶךְ־לְךָ commanded a psychological break with Avraham’s past, with his ancestral family and tradition”.
We can then see the true meaning of Hashem’s phrasing. He was preparing Avraham for the psychological and emotional struggles he would face.
But while this answers one question, it brings about another one. Why was Avraham chosen at all?
Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi, in his philosophical work the Kuzari, asks: “Would it not have been better had God given His approval to all men alike?” Namely, why did Hashem single out just Avraham to spread his message?
Ramban (ibid, 12:2) adds another question: “והנה זאת הפרשה לא בארה כל הענין, כי מה טעם שיאמר לו הקב״ה עזוב ארצך ואיטיבה עמך טובה שלא היתה כמוה מעולם, מבלי שיקדים שהיה אברהם עובד אלקים או צדיק תמים, או שיאמר טעם לעזיבת הארץ שיהיה בהליכתו אל ארץ אחרת קרבת אלקים.”
Why, רמב”ן asks, does the תורה not give any backstory before jumping into the story? Wouldn’t it make sense to preface הקב״ה’s command with an explanation of how Avraham was loyal to God, righteous, etc.?
While the תורה שבכתב does not give any explanation, there are multiple Midrashic accounts of Avraham’s past given, and the רמב”ם cites them in the first פרק of הלכות עבודה זרה:
כֵּיוָן שֶׁנִּגְמַל אֵיתָן זֶה הִתְחִיל לְשׁוֹטֵט בְּדַעְתּוֹ וְהוּא קָטָן וְהִתְחִיל לַחֲשֹׁב בַּיּוֹם וּבַלַּיְלָה וְהָיָה תָּמֵהַּ הֵיאַךְ אֶפְשָׁר שֶׁיִּהְיֶה הַגַּלְגַּל הַזֶּה נוֹהֵג תָּמִיד וְלֹא יִהְיֶה לוֹ מַנְהִיג וּמִי יְסַבֵּב אוֹתוֹ. כִּי אִי אֶפְשָׁר שֶׁיְּסַבֵּב אֶת עַצְמוֹ… עַד שֶׁהִשִּׂיג דֶּרֶךְ הָאֱמֶת וְהֵבִין קַו הַצֶּדֶק מִתְּבוּנָתוֹ הַנְּכוֹנָה. וְיָדַע שֶׁיֵּשׁ שָׁם אֱלוֹהַּ אֶחָד וְהוּא מַנְהִיג הַגַּלְגַּל וְהוּא בָּרָא הַכּל וְאֵין בְּכָל הַנִּמְצָא אֱלוֹהַּ חוּץ מִמֶּנּוּ…וּבֶן אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה הִכִּיר אַבְרָהָם אֶת בּוֹרְאוֹ. כֵּיוָן שֶׁהִכִּיר וְיָדַע הִתְחִיל לְהָשִׁיב תְּשׁוּבוֹת עַל בְּנֵי אוּר כַּשְׂדִּים וְלַעֲרֹךְ דִּין עִמָּהֶם וְלוֹמַר שֶׁאֵין זוֹ דֶּרֶךְ הָאֱמֶת שֶׁאַתֶּם הוֹלְכִים בָּהּ וְשִׁבֵּר הַצְּלָמִים וְהִתְחִיל לְהוֹדִיעַ לָעָם שֶׁאֵין רָאוּי לַעֲבֹד אֶלָּא לֶאֱלוֹהַּ הָעוֹלָם וְלוֹ רָאוּי לְהִשְׁתַּחֲווֹת וּלְהַקְרִיב וּלְנַסֵּךְ כְּדֵי שֶׁיַּכִּירוּהוּ כָּל הַבְּרוּאִים הַבָּאִים… כֵּיוָן שֶׁגָּבַר עֲלֵיהֶם בִּרְאָיוֹתָיו בִּקֵּשׁ הַמֶּלֶךְ לְהָרְגוֹ וְנַעֲשָׂה לוֹ נֵס וְיָצָא לְחָרָן. וְהִתְחִיל לַעֲמֹד וְלִקְרֹא בְּקוֹל גָּדוֹל לְכָל הָעוֹלָם וּלְהוֹדִיעָם שֶׁיֵּשׁ שָׁם אֱלוֹהַּ אֶחָד לְכָל הָעוֹלָם וְלוֹ רָאוּי לַעֲבֹד. וְהָיָה מְהַלֵּךְ וְקוֹרֵא וּמְקַבֵּץ הָעָם מֵעִיר לְעִיר וּמִמַּמְלָכָה לְמַמְלָכָה עַד שֶׁהִגִּיעַ לְאֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן וְהוּא קוֹרֵא שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית כא לג) "וַיִּקְרָא שָׁם בְּשֵׁם ה' אֵל עוֹלָם".
רמב”ם cited these מדרשים as part of his overview of the history of עבודה זרה, discussing how Avraham began to search for Hashem at an early age. Avraham finally found Hashem at age forty, when he began smashing idols and debating his neighbors, defied the king, and then left for Cena’an.
רמב”ן additionally links these stories of Avraham’s past as reasonings for why he was chosen. But the obvious question is why the תורה did not discuss Avraham’s past, instead leaving it to חז”ל to explain. רמב”ן suggests that it was because the תורה did not want to discuss the opinions of idol worshippers, even in the context of Avraham’s enlightenment. We can see the תורה’s hesitancy to discuss idolatry as it deals very briefly with the generation of Enosh and their innovation of idolatry.
But another point, noted by Rabbi Alex Israel, is that had the תורה discussed Avraham’s path to God, we would have considered it the only path to God. We would think we must follow in the footsteps of Avraham exactly, and discover God in the same way, leaving no room for personal growth, challenge, or individuality. As Rabbi Israel says, “I can well imagine that had the Torah recorded such a story, we would end up with a section of Shulchan Aruch that would read something like: ‘At age three, a child must look at the sun and say “Is this the power that controls the world?” The same evening, the child must then behold the moon and recite: "Far from it! The moon has superseded the sun, and hence the moon is more powerful."’”
Benno Jacob, as cited by Nehama Leibowitz, notes that the Shoresh .ב.ר.כ occurs five times in the opening Pesukim of the Parashah, and this “abundance of blessing corresponds with the fivefold occurrence of light on the first day of creation (אור), which appears five times.” Here, she says, we have a second world created with the advent of Avraham, a world of blessing given from man to man.
But it was not limited to just Avraham’s journey. Avraham brought the light of discovery to the world, but we are not limited to his path. As Avraham's story teaches, we can each find our own path to God in our own way.
In חובות הלבבות, Rabbeinu Bachya discusses the seven advantages to one arriving at an understanding of Hashem through the שכל, and the seven advantages to one arriving at an understanding of Hashem through the תורה. He reasons that “both phases of submission are praiseworthy and lead to the path of deliverance in the world of peace, but the one [תורה] is only the cause of the other, a step leading to the higher one [שכל]…submission through alertness of the mind and logical demonstration is better in God’s eyes, preferable to Him and more pleasing.”
We can learn from Avraham that it is the individual path to faith that is significant. We all have our own path toward Hashem, filled with our own illuminating discoveries and unique challenges, and what is important is that we ultimately arrive at Hashem, not how we get there.