Parshat Lech Lecha 5773 Schedule

Weekly Words of Torah

The Proper Foundations

Insights into Parshat Lech-Lecha of Mr. David Weitz of Yeshivat Sha’alvim, by Rav Re’uven Ungar of Yeshivat Sha’alvim.

In the first פסוק in this weeks פרשה Hashem says to Avraham לך-לך מארצך וממולתך ומבית אביך אל הארץ אשר אראך – “Go for yourself from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you”. The תוספת ברכה asks on this what is implicit in רש”י, Hashem could have just told אברהם to “leave your land”. אברהם would have understood where he has to leave from! Why did Hashem have to add in “וממולדתך ומבית אביך”?

The תוספת ברכה answers that in life we are influenced by 3 different elements: Firstly, the community in which we live, the friends with whom we surround ourselves. For example, it says in מסכת פסחים that one of the Amoraim told his son not to live in a certain city because he would be affected by that place. Secondly, we are most affected by our family; our siblings and cousins. They are the people we spend the most time with. Lastly, what shapes us the most is our parents. As the גמרא in סוכה says a parent knows everything about their child and helps them through all the good times and bad times. The parents mold the child. This is exactly what Hashem was telling אברהם. You אברהם have it difficult, you have to overcome these three things. You אברהם have parents and extended family that don’t believe in what I, Hashem believe in. You have to leave from your land, the community you are living in right now, for a better one. You אברהם, the first Jew, need to instill these three values in the Jewish people.

Clearly, in Judaism a major emphasis is placed on these three factors of community, family, and parents. Each Jew needs to have parents, family, and a community that will help shape his life as Jew in the right ways.