T ORAH P ORTION
CAN DL E L IGHTIN G
The Nature of Our Calling
BY RABBI SHAWN ISRAEL ZEVIT
Parshat Lech-Lecha
DEDICATED TO ALL the
sacred work of menschwork.

org and my father Lester Zevit,
Eliezer Shimon b. Shoshana
V’Ahron Yosef HaKohen
(1938-2020). “Terah took his son Abram,
his grandson Lot, the son of
Haran, his daughter-in-law
Sarai … and they set out together
from Ur of the Chaldeans for the
land of Canaan. But when they
had come as far as Haran, they
settled there … and Terah died
in Haran. God said to Abram,
Lech lecha (“get yourself up and
go” or “go towards your Self ”)
from where you dwell and from
your father’s house to the land
that I will show you...and you
will be a blessing ...” (Genesis
11:31-32, 12:1,2)
While this week’s parsha
starts at Bereysheet (Genesis
12), in the Torah scroll there
are no chapters and verses, only
columns, indentations and a little
space between the fi ve books.

Honoring this, one can see
from the text above that the
idea that Avram wakes up one
morning to a unique Divine
realization and call to go to
Canaan, is a recommitment and
reaffi rmation of the journey
he was on — not a “eureka!”
moment. Even the character
of Avram’s father, Terah, so
textured by midrash and inter-
pretative stories, is more than
an idol-maker that Avram
challenges and breaks from
(Genesis Rabbah, chapter 38).

It is Terah who takes the
initiative to leave his ancestral
homeland, fueled by the death
of his son Haran, and enables
the extended family (including
Haran’s son Lot, of future fame),
to leave painful memories and
explore new horizons. Terah
dies in a city midway between
Ur and Canaan, named aft er
his deceased son, consumed by
grief as his son’s name indicates.

Perhaps the Torah narrative
is inviting us to look at what we
leave behind that in fact goes
with us — mourning, grief or
trauma that is unaddressed
goes where we go. We may
even break free physically and
yet become immobilized, and
even meet our end as Terah
did, in the place internally,
or in external work or family
circumstances that carries the
name and burden of the very
past we left .

None of us lives in a vacuum,
and Torah and our tradition, in
fact, elevate and esteem the
person who connects their own
actions and ideas with those
who have come before and are
in the generations yet to come.

At the same time, possi-
bility, purpose and aspiring
to transcendent ends for the
good of all may yet be ahead. I
once read an article called “Th e
Calling” that defi ned this term
as when the longing of one’s
heart and capabilities meets
the needs and aspirations of
the time and state of the world
in which we live.

What then is the new Lech
Lecha Avram experiences? What
of Sarai and Lot’s own spiritual
journeys and how do they co-in-
fl uence each other to hear the
Divine call to get up and leave
the place their father was only
able to go so far into? What is the
deep internal life Avram touches
so that he hears or experiences
the call to take the inner truth
and express it in action fulfi lling
a vision that is at once his and
the Universe’s call and a legacy
he is fulfi lling l’dor v’dor — from
generation to generation?
In this new year of 5782, a
shmita year — a year of release
and checking our use of the land
and its bounty; psychological
and economic forgiving of debts;
socio-economic rebalancing;
reviewing our Torah, purpose and
direction — we add additional
inquiry to the ancient charge.

Th e overall themes of the
shmita year support and
enhance our ongoing work; it
does not replace or negate our
current activities. Th e confl u-
ence of this earth-based justice
cycle of Jewish life can provide
a broader container within
Oct. 15
Oct. 22
6:03 p.m.

5:53 p.m.

which to continue to adapt and
fi nd resilience and meaning
amid so much uncertainty.

I invite all of us, in this
New Year to review our own
personal, professional and
communal lives in the light of
these shmita year principles,
and listen to the ancient call
of Lech Lecha to see where we
can fulfi ll the promise of our
individual and collective lives:
• •
• •
• Like the charge to Avram to
become all that he might become,
to grow into Avraham in a new
place he did not know, so we are
asked to expand our self-image
to refl ect the values and Godly
potential more fully in our lives.

Th en we will come to know the
blessing we inherently are meant
to be — not at the cost of others
along the way — for the benefi t of
humanity (Adam) and the future
sustainability of the adamah, the
How do you want to live earth itself. ●
in the world with a deeper
connection to conscious Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit serves
Jewish values-based living? as rabbi at Mishkan Shalom in
How can you renew, recon- Philadelphia, co-founder/co-
nect and relate to your director of the Davennen Leader’s
spiritual life?
Training Institute and associate
How can you release and director for the ALEPH Hashpa’ah
re-evaluate your consump- (Spiritual Direction) program. He
tion of resources and is the author of “Off erings of the
ownership of “stuff ”?
Heart: Money and Values in Faith
How can you rethink, with Community,” and a member of
discipline and forgiveness, the Religious Leaders Council
habitual physical, emotional of Greater Philadelphia and the
and thought patterns? Which Philadelphia Faith Leader’s caucus
of these “debts” need to be of POWER Interfaith PA. The Board
forgiven so you can move of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia
out of past-based determined is proud to provide diverse
living and what debts need to perspectives on Torah commentary
be repaid so we can all be free for the Jewish Exponent. The
of individual and collective opinions expressed in this column
injustice that is continuing are the author’s own and do not
its systemic grip on us and refl ect the view of the Board of
oppressing others?
Rabbis. How can we revisit together
our local and broader
communities’ role and
work in climate, racial and
economic justice?
Be heard.

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letters@jewishexponent.com 24
OCTOBER 14, 2021
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