d’var torah
The Eternal Search
BY RABBI GEORGE STERN
Parshat Lech L’cha
A few days before you read this,
Americans and Israelis will
have gone to the polls with
many diff erent ideas about what sort of
future they would like for themselves
and their country.

Th e specifi c outcomes aren’t known
as I write, but this Shabbat’s parshah,
Lech L’cha, provides some insights into
the importance of playing active roles in
determining the future.

Th e fi rst words of the parshah, Lech
L’cha, demand explication. God’s com-
mand to Abram is usually translated as
“go forth.” But that misses the signif-
icance of the lamed (L) in the second
word. According to the medieval com-
mentator Rashi, lech l’cha means “go for
yourself”: Do what God is asking for your
own sake.

I prefer the more literal “go to your-
self,” such as, “Go fi nd yourself, learn
who you are and be that person.” Th at
speaks more to a person’s soul.

In this Jewish foundational story,
Abram sets out on a journey “to a land
that I will show you.” Jewish history,
then, begins with “leaving.” In this
parshah alone, Abram arrives at the
Canaanite site Elon Moreh near Hebron,
“moves on” (Hebrew root ayin-beit-re-
ish, avar) to the east, then heads south to
the Negev. Next, a famine drives him to
Egypt, then he returns to Hebron.

In next week’s parshah, Vayeira,
Abraham (he now has the name we know
him best by) takes perhaps the most fate-
ful journey of all. Responding to another
lech l’cha from God, he takes his son
Isaac to Mt. Moriah, “the place that God
told him of,” where Abraham expects to
have to sacrifi ce Isaac. Th e Hebrew word
for “place” used here is hamakom. It’s
also one of the Hebrew names for God.

Was this “place” Abraham’s intended
destination all along?
I have to think that Abraham had real
doubts about the climb to Mt. Moriah:
Am I really supposed to sacrifi ce my
son? When a voice told him to with-
hold the knife of sacrifi ce, he must have
breathed a huge sigh of relief, realizing
that his doubts were appropriate and
that he all along could have proven his
faith by refusing this call, just as he
had done when he questioned God’s
intent to destroy everyone in Sodom
and Gomorrah. I imagine he wondered,
“Why wasn’t I more forceful with God?”
While we might wish it were otherwise,
it’s not enough to stand for principle only
once or, for that matter, to assume that
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a stance we take today is necessarily the
right one for tomorrow. It is important
always to “keep moving,” to question our
motives, decisions and the “place” we are
in. Indeed, aft er Moriah, Abraham moved
on and even took a second wife.

Th e Place — God, the human soul, the
true self, call it what you will — isn’t one
place at all; it moves as we move. It’s not
simply “found and done.” It’s not the idols
that Abraham’s ancestors worshipped,
nor atop some particular mountain; it’s
not a grand Temple in Jerusalem or a
synagogue. Th e Place, we might say, is in
the journey, the ongoing soul-searching,
questioning and rethinking as life moves
on. Th e Place moves with us. Th e Place is
us, each and every one of us.

Let’s go back to that root word, avar.

Add to it a yod (ayin-beit-reish-yod) and
you get ivri, the word for “Hebrew.” Jews
are Hebrews, people who move from
place to place, who don’t “settle,” but
rather forever search for the Place.

In both American and Israeli society
today, it seems to me that too many have
stopped seeking. Th ey are so afraid of
change, of what’s new, that they would do
anything to fi nd immediate equilibrium,
whether it would be good for them or
not. Th ey are afraid to keep looking.

As Jews, descendants of Abraham the
ivri, we know that the world around us
can be challenging. We also know, with
Abraham, that we have a role to play in
creating the future for ourselves and,
yes, for our nation.

As Rabbi Tarfon said (Pirke Avot
2:21), “It is not incumbent upon you to
complete the work, but neither are you
free to desist from it.” We must always
be movers and shakers. JE
Rabbi George Stern is retired from both
congregational work and executive director
positions at several Philadelphia faith-based
nonprofi ts and attends Germantown Jewish
Centre and Congregation Rodeph Shalom.

Th e Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia
is proud to provide diverse perspectives on
Torah commentary for the Jewish Exponent.

Th e opinions expressed in this column are
the author’s own and do not refl ect the
view of the Board of
Rabbis.