Parshas Lech Lecha
Our Future Lies in Chevron
Rashi comments that the Lord assured Avraham that leaving his home and
family in Aram and heading to a then unknown destination would somehow be to
his benefit and ultimate good. Even though this may appear strange to the
casual observer – leaving the known and secure and heading out to wander to
an unknown destination – the ways of the Lord are inscrutable and often
counter-intuitive to human logic.
The purpose of Avraham’s wandering journey is to reach the Land of Israel
and to claim it for his descendants. For only in the Land of Israel will
Avraham find personal fulfillment and realize his true spiritual, moral and
holy potential. But while in Aram and Charan, Avraham and Sarah did good
work, spreading the idea of monotheism and teaching the basic system of
morality that is the core of the Torah’s value system. Many people were
influenced by them and became followers of monotheism and began to worship
only the one true God.
So, why not leave Avraham and Sarah in Aram to continue their good work? Why
send them off to the Land of Israel, then inhabited by the fierce and pagan
Canaanite nation, to a very uncertain and perilous situation? And in the
Land of Israel, the wicked, powerful and influential cities of Sodom are
present. Seemingly Avraham and Sarah can accomplish much more by remaining
in Aram than by travelling to the Land of Israel. And because of this type
of human thinking, Avraham has to rely on the Lord’s counter-intuitive
logic, so to speak, and unhesitatingly embark on this dangerous journey that
will eventually change all of human history.
What is clear from all of this is that the fulfillment of Jewish destiny and
influence, of the holy self-actualization of the Jewish people can only be
achieved in the Land of Israel. The obstacles that the Land of Israel itself
raises to this self-actualization are many and profound. Nevertheless, the
actions of our forbearers remain as the guideposts for all future Jewish
generations.
If we look around at the Jewish world today the only significant demographic
growth of Jews the world over is in the Land of Israel. The millennia-long
exile and the Diaspora generally is shutting down, whether from external
pressures or inner weakness. Only in the Land of Israel will the Jewish
people find their soul and destiny.
And, just as in the time of Avraham and Sarah, the Land of Israel is plagued
with dangers, problems and fraught with apparent peril. There is still a
touch of Sodom present there and the heirs of the Canaanites are in the
land. Yet just as the Lord told Avraham many thousands of years ago, only
there will you become great and blessed – blessed for yourself and for all
of humankind.
The opportunity to live a truly Jewish life and to help build a kingdom of
priests and a holy nation is pretty much reserved to those who today live in
the Land of Israel. The future of the Jewish people lies today in Chevron
and not in Charan.
Shabat shalom,
Rabbi Berel Wein
