Exactly twenty years ago this Shabbos, my sister and I stood before the bimah of our conservative shul for our B’nai Mitzvah. Before the congregation, we gave our own interpretation of this week’s Parsha, Lech Lecha, in a way that made sense to a 13- and 12-year-old. Admittedly, I don’t remember the entire sum and substance of our speech, but I do remember one major theme: Never give up. Indeed, so begins the story of Avraham Avinu.

Immediately within the first lines, HaShem gives the first “command” to our first patriarch:

The L-rd said to Avram, “Go – from your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house – to the land that I will show you.

(Bereshis 12:1).

The phrase “lech lecha” has multiple interpretations. The most common, of course, is “Go for yourself.” Rashi states that HaShem tells Avraham Avinu that to “go for yourself” is “for your own benefit, for your own good” to make him the father of a great nation. And to paraphrase Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik in Abraham’s Journey, Avraham Avinu had to leave his past behind, erase his memory, and emigrate from his country to a new land altogether. This represents the first of ten tests of faith that HaShem gives Avraham Avinu to establish his permanent standing as our founding father.

It comes as no surprise, then, that the phrase “lech lecha” appears only one more time in the Torah. As we will read in next week’s Parsha, Vayeira, HaShem

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)