Post by Rabbi Neil on Nov 18, 2018 17:57:40 GMT
It is in the sidrah of Lech Lecha that the Jewish people are, in some sense, born. Not with some dramatic exodus from Egypt, not with the dramatic invasion of the land of Canaan, but with a call from God to one person. A Divine call. A call that says, “Go from where you are, and don’t be afraid.”
What is it that makes that call so quintessentially Jewish? We only need to think back a few weeks to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – to a time when we were called to transcend our previous modes of behaviour and to journey towards becoming better versions of ourselves. I’m reminded not just of that liturgy but of the Franz Kafka passage, in which our destination is “Away-From-Here, always Away-From-Here.”
More than that, Jewish history is one of transition, of not being too settled, of moving around and not getting too attached to the past. Jews have always been a transitory people, a people who settle, but never permanently, both physically and spiritually. Whenever we do settle, trouble ensues, complacency sets in, the community stagnates.
The call “Lech lecha” that God says to Avram is reflexive – “take yourself.” It’s not just a case of upping sticks and leaving, this is a case of a wholehearted, fully-engaged journey, a physical, spiritual and mental journey. Jews journey. It’s not our connection to our roots that defines us as Jewish but rather the route that we take on life. Life’s journey defines us as Jews, the present pointing towards the future defines us as Jews, much more than a simple biological or traditional connection to the past. To be a Jew means to have a forward vision. This is why belief in a Messiah, or in a Messianic Age, is so important to us as Jews. By definition, a Jew looks forward to the future and tries to make the future a better place. We transcend the past and present to create a different future.
God’s call to Avram is a call to each one of us. It is a call to go beyond our initial safety zone, to not be afraid of new things, new ideas, new lands, new ventures, to embrace change in ourselves and in our communities. But how do we know that we’ll be safe? Is it enough, as Avram did, to simply have faith in God? I think not. Avram heard God’s Voice clearly, we don’t. We don’t have the faith that the future will be okay. And that is why Jewish communities have a tendency to hold where they are, in their comfort zone, because they don’t have faith that the future will be okay too. There is a fear of recklessness, a fear of always moving forward to the point that we’ll just fall off a cliff into disaster.
And this is where the words of God’s call are important. God doesn’t just say “Get out from here,” but quite specifically “go to a land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). Moving forward requires vision, and requires direction. God acknowledges that asking Avram to change without demonstrating where the change will lead is impossible.
There is an interesting response to God’s call which is often overlooked in the text. As Avram and Sarai leave Ur, the text says that they bring with them “all the souls they made in Haran.” Who are these souls? Many different rabbinic commentaries abound. But because I’m talking not just in an individualised sense, but also a communal sense, there is one interpretation that has not been given to this text. For a community to make souls, that is, to increase members, or to more fully engage the members it already has, it needs to journey forward. It needs to learn about where it’s going, and it needs to plan how to get there. Does our community hear that Divine Call to move forward? Often not. Often the members of our community are very satisfied at how the community operates because it meets their needs. And that is wonderful. But communities tend to hear most clearly the feedback of those who are happy, because those who are unhappy often just walk away without comment. Recently, I truly believe our community has started to hear the Divine Call, though. We’ve started to hear the voices of women who have felt marginalized, particularly in Jewish ritual. We’re starting to hear the voices of the younger generations who need a community in very different ways to those a generation or two their senior. We’re starting to hear that the Divine Call doesn’t mean running programs to bring people in, it means transforming the community in ways that take us forward.
The story of God’s call to Avram does share one more crucial nugget – that Avram becomes the progenitor of the Jewish people simply by journeying. The story starts simply with the action of a journey. When we journey, we open up new possibilities, we see things we hadn’t previously considered. But once we journey we see how much of an impact just one person can have. Journeying increases our potential to affect others positively.
Our tradition tells us that when a person dies and goes to heaven, they are held accountable for all the things that they could have enjoyed, but did not. We are all held to the same standard – individuals and communities. If we do not try new things, we are held accountable for our stagnation. If we do not explore new ideas, we cannot attract new souls. The Divine call asks us to no longer be afraid of the new, but rather, the opposite - that we are duty-bound to explore it.
These are exciting times. The Divine call to journey forth, a call to individuals and to communities, is becoming clearer every day.
“Away from here, away from here, for that is how I can reach my destination.” I said. “So, you know your destination?” said the stable-boy. “Yes,” I replied, “did I not say so? Away-From-Here – that is my destination.”
What is it that makes that call so quintessentially Jewish? We only need to think back a few weeks to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – to a time when we were called to transcend our previous modes of behaviour and to journey towards becoming better versions of ourselves. I’m reminded not just of that liturgy but of the Franz Kafka passage, in which our destination is “Away-From-Here, always Away-From-Here.”
More than that, Jewish history is one of transition, of not being too settled, of moving around and not getting too attached to the past. Jews have always been a transitory people, a people who settle, but never permanently, both physically and spiritually. Whenever we do settle, trouble ensues, complacency sets in, the community stagnates.
The call “Lech lecha” that God says to Avram is reflexive – “take yourself.” It’s not just a case of upping sticks and leaving, this is a case of a wholehearted, fully-engaged journey, a physical, spiritual and mental journey. Jews journey. It’s not our connection to our roots that defines us as Jewish but rather the route that we take on life. Life’s journey defines us as Jews, the present pointing towards the future defines us as Jews, much more than a simple biological or traditional connection to the past. To be a Jew means to have a forward vision. This is why belief in a Messiah, or in a Messianic Age, is so important to us as Jews. By definition, a Jew looks forward to the future and tries to make the future a better place. We transcend the past and present to create a different future.
God’s call to Avram is a call to each one of us. It is a call to go beyond our initial safety zone, to not be afraid of new things, new ideas, new lands, new ventures, to embrace change in ourselves and in our communities. But how do we know that we’ll be safe? Is it enough, as Avram did, to simply have faith in God? I think not. Avram heard God’s Voice clearly, we don’t. We don’t have the faith that the future will be okay. And that is why Jewish communities have a tendency to hold where they are, in their comfort zone, because they don’t have faith that the future will be okay too. There is a fear of recklessness, a fear of always moving forward to the point that we’ll just fall off a cliff into disaster.
And this is where the words of God’s call are important. God doesn’t just say “Get out from here,” but quite specifically “go to a land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). Moving forward requires vision, and requires direction. God acknowledges that asking Avram to change without demonstrating where the change will lead is impossible.
There is an interesting response to God’s call which is often overlooked in the text. As Avram and Sarai leave Ur, the text says that they bring with them “all the souls they made in Haran.” Who are these souls? Many different rabbinic commentaries abound. But because I’m talking not just in an individualised sense, but also a communal sense, there is one interpretation that has not been given to this text. For a community to make souls, that is, to increase members, or to more fully engage the members it already has, it needs to journey forward. It needs to learn about where it’s going, and it needs to plan how to get there. Does our community hear that Divine Call to move forward? Often not. Often the members of our community are very satisfied at how the community operates because it meets their needs. And that is wonderful. But communities tend to hear most clearly the feedback of those who are happy, because those who are unhappy often just walk away without comment. Recently, I truly believe our community has started to hear the Divine Call, though. We’ve started to hear the voices of women who have felt marginalized, particularly in Jewish ritual. We’re starting to hear the voices of the younger generations who need a community in very different ways to those a generation or two their senior. We’re starting to hear that the Divine Call doesn’t mean running programs to bring people in, it means transforming the community in ways that take us forward.
The story of God’s call to Avram does share one more crucial nugget – that Avram becomes the progenitor of the Jewish people simply by journeying. The story starts simply with the action of a journey. When we journey, we open up new possibilities, we see things we hadn’t previously considered. But once we journey we see how much of an impact just one person can have. Journeying increases our potential to affect others positively.
Our tradition tells us that when a person dies and goes to heaven, they are held accountable for all the things that they could have enjoyed, but did not. We are all held to the same standard – individuals and communities. If we do not try new things, we are held accountable for our stagnation. If we do not explore new ideas, we cannot attract new souls. The Divine call asks us to no longer be afraid of the new, but rather, the opposite - that we are duty-bound to explore it.
These are exciting times. The Divine call to journey forth, a call to individuals and to communities, is becoming clearer every day.
“Away from here, away from here, for that is how I can reach my destination.” I said. “So, you know your destination?” said the stable-boy. “Yes,” I replied, “did I not say so? Away-From-Here – that is my destination.”