Parshas Lech L'cha opens with Hashem, the Creator, telling Avraham, who is still called, Abram, “Take yourself away from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great race. I will bless you and make your reputation great and you shall be a blessing; and through you will be blessed all families of the earth”, (Genesis 12:1-3).
The Hebrew phrase לֶךְ־לְךָ most precisely means “go to yourself”. In effect Hakadosh Baruch Hu is telling Abraham to consider things according to his own personal evaluation. In other words the points of view of things like his nation, school, home, profession should be deemphasized and not be the deciding factor. Rather his opinions should be based on his own observations and understanding with some coloration from personal experience.
The term אַרְאֶךָּ typically here is translated as the destination that God has chosen. A more precise reading would be, “to the land where I will display you. So to speak God is showing Abraham a place and also putting him in a place where he will be shown off. In other words He wants Abraham the way he is and not under external influence.
Rashi (Chabad translation) comments, “Go forth: Heb. לֶךְ לְךָ, lit. go to you, for your benefit and for your good, and there I will make you into a great nation, but here, you will not merit to have children. Moreover, I will make your character known in the world. — [from Rosh Hashanah 16b, Tan.]”.
The Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 16b) basically says that Abraham that as long as he was living among the Chaldeans in Ur, the decree in heaven concerning him was bad, therefore he had to move. However others say that he needed the merit of the land of Israel.
Nachmanides comments that Abraham was straying like a lost lamb. It's likely that he did know that that the land of Canaan was the heritage of Hashem and that his destiny was to be found there too. It was here that he would see the truth. The Ramban uses the phrase יראנו באמת which can also be understood as Avraham will be truthfully displayed or that the truth according to Avraham will be shown.
All of this helps us understand Abraham and the Chumash, but there is a deeper and universal message specifically the importance of the individual. This idea is illustrated by a story of great Chassidic master, Rabbi Zusha. When he was about to die he started to cry. His students asked him, Rebbe, why are you so upset? With all your Torah and mitzvahs surely you will be given a high place in heaven! Zusha answered that I'm afraid, when I get to heaven, I will be asked not why I wasn’t more like Moses or King David; rather why I was not more like Zusha?
The moral of the story is that we do not find greatness by stealing somebody else's position, glory, or ideas; nor by parroting the words of our school, nation, or profession. Rather it is by finding the land of Israel in our souls. It is to be found by our personal meditation and experience. This is where diamonds and pearls of our existence are to be found. Not only that but these are the blessings that our family and friends desire and need the most. In addition when we start searching for this, God smiles at us and shows us the way.
לע"נ האמא מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנ"ח
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