Parshat Lech Lecha 5785
Rabbi Jablinowitz
This week’s parsha begins with the words, לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך אל הארץ אשר אראך. Hashem tells Avraham to leave his homeland and go to Eretz Yisrael. The term לך לך, which translates as go for yourself, seems difficult. What did Hashem mean by telling Avraham Avinu go for yourself? Rashi explains that it means להנאתך ולטובתך; go for your own personal benefit. Rashi continues and teaches that one of the benefits of Avraham Avinu leaving and going to Eretz Yisrael was, שאודיע טבעך בעולם; I will inform the world of your true nature and essence.
The pasuk in Shir HaShirim states (Chapter 2, Pasuk 12), הנצנים נראו בארץ; the blossoms appeared in the land. The Zohar Hakadosh darshens that the blossoms and the flowering being described is a reference to the Avos, the beginning of the nation of Israel. And these blossoms appeared precisely בארץ, in Eretz Yisrael. Only in Eretz Yisrael were the Avos able to blossom and reach their potential. Only in Eretz Yisrael would the Avos be able to show their true essence. And this is also what Rashi means when he says it’s for your benefit that you leave and go to Eretz Yisrael. Only there can I show your true nature to the world.
Revealing the nature and essence of Avraham Avinu and the other Avos is to show how holy they were, and what unique Neshamos they possessed. And the special Neshamos of the Avos clearly reflect that their source is from a very high place. This is what Rashi means when he quotes the words of Chazal (Medrash Rabbah 47,6) on the pasuk (Chapter 17, Pasuk 22), ויעל אלוקים מעל אברהם, the Avos were the chariot, the מרכבה, of Hashem. The Avos were the means through which Hashem was known to the world. The result is that Hashem told Avraham Avinu to go to Eretz Yisrael to show his true essence, and Avraham and the Avos in kind reflected to the world, through their actions and holiness, that Hashem is the Creator.
The Sfas Emes teaches, that as the descendants of the Avos, we carry on this same mission. We must show our true essence of holiness to the world, as the pasuk says in sefer Yeshayahu (Chapter 60, Pasuk 21), ועמך כולם צדיקים, the members of your nation are all righteous. And as a result of this, we merit Eretz Yisrael permanently, as the pasuk continues, לעולם ירשו ארץ. But it depends on keeping our Bris with Hashem, as the pasuk says (Chapter 17, Pasuk 9), ואתה את בריתי תשמור; and you must keep my covenant, and the pasuk before states that I will give you Eretz Yisrael, ונתתי לך ולזרעך אחריך וכו' את כל ארץ כנען לאחזת עולם.
And Chazal teach that all of our covenants with Hashem are interdependent. The Medrash Rabbah (46,9) on this pasuk teaches, אם מקיימין בניך את המילה הן נכנסים לארץ ואם לאו אין נכנסים לארץ, אם מקבלים בניך את השבת הם נכנסין לארץ ואם לאו אינם נכנסין. If Bnei Yisrael will keep Bris Milah they will enter Eretz Yisrael, and if not, they won’t enter. And if Bnei Yisrael will keep Shabbos they will enter Eretz Yisrael, and if not, they will not enter.
Both Bris Milah and Shabbos express the holiness of Bnei Yisrael. Bris Milah is our covenant with Hashem through which we subjugate our physical desires for higher, spiritual achievement. And Shabbos is the day when we connect with Hashem on a higher plane and leave the physical world behind. And in doing so, we testify about Hashem as the Creator of the world. This task was given specifically to Bnei Yisrael, as the pasuk says in sefer Yeshayahu (Chapter 43, Pasuk 12), אתם עדי נאום ד'. And we say in the Shemoneh Esrei on Shabbos morning ולא נתתו ד' אלוקינו לגויי הארצות וכו' וגם במנוחתו לא ישכנו ערלים. Only Clal Yisrael, those with Bris Milah, were chosen to show the world on Shabbos that Hashem is the Creator.
Only if we fulfill these mitzvos of Milah and Shabbos will we be able to enter the Holy Land. And just as Avraham Avinu and the Avos were only able to blossom in Eretz Yisrael, so too, as their descendants and children, our place of blossoming and reaching our potential is in Eretz Yisrael. We can continue the task of the Avos, the Merkavah of the Shechinah, by expressing the real beauty of our souls by maintaining the mitzvos and the Brissim that we have with Hashem.
Good Shabbos
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