Lech Lecha
We are introduced to Abraham who is told to go to Canaan. In a packed parshah, a battle between kings is described, Abraham is honoured by a separate king - Malki Tzedek - and Abraham encounters God and they make a covenant. It also describes Ishmael's birth and the difficulties Sarah has in giving birth. It ends with Abraham circumcising all the men in his family.
Naomi Less
Naomi has been a songwriter, ritual music artist and song leader in the Jewish community, and solo performer for 14 years. She has now launched a project called Jewish Chicks Rock to empower more young, Jewish girls to pick up instruments and express themselves through rock music.
Parashat Lech Lecha is famous – particularly famous because this is the transitional moment when Abram (soon to be renamed Abraham) becomes a Jew. He’s directed to leave all that’s familiar, to the house where he was born, from his father’s house, and to go to a land that God is going to show him. Take a risk, go forth – journey forward with your life.
But who else is affected by this leap Abram takes? When one person grows, sets off on a journey, it affects their family members as well – and as is often the case, we don’t hear from those voices in the Torah in these moments. It’s time to put ourselves in the shoes not of just the hero on the hero’s journey, but of those who end up on that journey with him, for better or worse.
Abram, our hero, enters this journey with his wife by his side. Sarai (she’s not yet renamed Sarah) goes through an intense journey herself, and some may say sacrifice for the sake of the (or his) larger vision.
The scene opens in Chapter 12 verse 10-20, we hear the story of Abram and Sarai heading down to Egypt. Yep, there was a famine in the land and three generations before his great grandson Joseph, Abram goes down to Egypt. Try, just try and imagine this scene: Abram, Sarai (and all the family flock who are with them) are about to enter Egypt when Abram turns to Sarai and reminds her of how gorgeous she is...
What must Sarai have been thinking at that moment – I know what I would think: “uh-oh, what does he want from me!” Abram continues on to say (Verse 12): “If the Egyptians see you, and think, 'She is his wife,' they will kill me and let you live.” Verse 13 says: “Please say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may remain alive thanks to you."
Imagine you are Sarai - Say I’m your sister?? Really? How will that help your situation? Would they kill you and take her away? What is going to happen to me? What are you saying? What is this place that we’re entering – such narrowness? Yes Mitzrayim – the narrow place. Do I have a choice here?
Does she?
Well, apparently, she obeyed in the end. She took one for the team, so to speak, for when they entered Egypt, everyone saw Sarai’s beauty, the Egyptians, Pharaoh’s courtiers, and they just up and took her to Pharaoh’s palace. Was there a goodbye? Was she freaking out? Imagine – you are being taken away from your husband and traveling family to a strange palace, with people who don’t speak your language, most likely – and will you ever see your husband again?
And back to Abram, in exchange for giving up his “sister”, he scored quite a boon – sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels – oh and slaves.
Abram – seems he got a pretty price for his wife, I mean, sister.
What happened to Sarai? How was that first night in Pharaoh’s palace, torn away from her husband in a strange land with a different language and customs? We don’t know.
The text doesn’t voice this herstory.
Now, lest you think Sarai was left to a fate of a “kept woman” in a palace, Pharaoh (in the Genesis Apochryphon) wasn’t able to have sexual relations with Sarai for TWO years. (This is built off of the Torah text in verse 17 that says Pharaoh had a ton of severe plagues.) But wait, she was “kept” for two years?
Well, ultimately, Pharaoh does let Sarai return to her husband when he finds out that she’s really Abram’s wife (and has a bunch of plagues because of this.)
What agency did Sarai have for herself if any? What was her experience through all of this? The text tells us that Abram asked her to sacrifice herself – he said please will you do this for my sake. And she apparently does. So should Abram not have gone on the journey? Should he not have gone to Egypt? Is there any blame or fault to be placed in this narrative? Could any of this been avoided? Abram went on a journey, but that journey impacted others – and so when we go on our own journeys, it’s important to take risks and follow our dreams and paths and callings, but also to make sure that we take care that the people who are impacted by our actions are cared for as much as we can care for them in that process. Let us not be reckless in our pursuits of greatness, innovation, change... When you leap, who do you take with you?
Another Voice - David Stern
David Stern currently studies at Yeshivat Hadar in New York. He has been involved with Limmud for 3 years and currently sits on the UK Conference team 2009.
"At a glance Parasha Lech Lecha appears to be the beginning of a journey that eventually leads Abraham to a new land and indeed a new relationship with G-d. The opening verse tells us how the Lord instructs Abraham to set out on a journey from his native land and father's house to "the land that I will show you." (12:1) A few chapters later we are told that this land is to be Canaan and that it is to be assigned to "Abraham and to to all his offspring to come." (17:8). At a glance we can see this journey as beginning with Abraham, but a closer reading of the text and a flick through to the last few verses of the previous Parasha (Noah) remind us that this journey actually began with Abraham's father Terah. As it is written, "Terah [and his family] set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan." (Noah 11:31) This journey gets interrupted and Terah never reaches this destination and it is only after Terah dies that G-d pushes Abraham to continue this journey. When G-d instructs Abraham to make his way to Canaan he has in fact already left his native land (and the home of his father). In light of this, we can come to understand that Abraham continues a journey started by his father rather than beginning a new one.
In the same way we can learn the importance of ensuring the continuation of our relationship with Hashem from generation to generation. It is a subtle reminder to new generations to continue the Jewish journey of their parents and develop their own relationship with Hashem. The journey of Terah and Abraham can also provide us with a new understanding and patience for results for global social and humanitarian issues. Often we feel frustration when we set out to change to the world for the better only to see a very slow progress (if any at all). We can learn that change takes time, sometimes from generation to generation, but that the journey is ultimately one continued process. Only by building on the work and efforts of those who came before us can we achieve humanity's goals and in doing so, complete our own personal journeys.
