This week we read the third portion in the Torah -- the portion of Lekh Lekha. In the Hebrew the two words, without vowels, look like twins. The same word twice, with a little change in the ‘sound’ of the consonants. Yet, the little difference makes all the difference in the world. With these two words, lekh lekha, God asks, or invites, or prompts our father Abraham to leave all that he knew and was familiar with for something radically different and more difficult -- to strike out on his own and carve out for himself something new, unique, and long lasting. The Torah text reads, “Va’yomer adona’y el Avram, lekh lekha me’artzekha umimoladetkha umibeyt avikha... -- The Lord said to Avram: ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” [Gen. 12:1-3]

I am sure that his neighbors, in the suburbs of Ur of the Chaldese were surprised and even shocked to see the talented and bright young son of Terakh move from the ‘center of civilization’ to that far off place that was no place, no where... Yet the ‘nowhere’ was a somewhere, in reality, and in that new place Abraham became the progenitor of a people, the descendants of Abraham, the seed of his son, Itzkhak, and the people known as the Children of Israel, named for Abraham’s grandson! Still more, they are known as “Jews,” a name that is derived from “Yehudah,” or “Judah,” one of the twelve sons of Israel. While some historians doubt this ‘family line,’ the Jewish people have laid claim to it for at least thirty five hundred years of recorded history.

Based on this story of the origin of Judaism, we can claim that Judaism is a family relationship that has grown to be a large people existing all over the world, with a common history, a literature, a culture and a language. Furthermore, events in the last fifty-some years have added a nation and a land to this formula. Oh, yes, I can hear the complaints from my religious friends who wish to remind us that Judaism is first and foremost a religion, a faith in God, based on a religious calendar. They would point out that Judaism is a religious institution, with holidays and fast days, life-cycle practices, customs & ceremonies. Their protest is quite well taken, even though social scientists tell us that more that fifty percent of Jews are NOT religious at all. “Some Jews,” our Orthodox friends would say -- but they would not dispute that they are, indeed, Jews!

There are a number of commentaries on the twin words that start our portion this week, lekh lekha. The first one I want to present to you suggests that God said to Abraham “Lekh,” ‘go,’ “lekha,” meaning ‘for yourself’ -- which means that Abreaham was to ‘make his own future.’ God blessed Abraham with initiative, with insight and industry -- so that his going became a success story. As you know, the Hebrew letters have a numerical value. The components of lekh lekha are ‘lamed’ with a value of 30 and ‘khaf’ with a value of twenty. Add the two numbers and you have sum of 50. Thus, the words God used to send Avram on his way begin with 50-50. This is views by the commentators as an arangement in which two forces interact. God does his fifty percent while abraham does his fifty percent, too.

A fifty fifty proposition, “You will do for Me, and I shall do for you!” Those who refuse to believe in God are scandalized, claiming that it presents a manipulative God. They ask, “Where was God when the enemies did all their nasty, evil deeds to the Jews -- from the killing of innocents in Jerusalem to the sins of the mobs during the crusades -- who put to the flame synagogues filled with Jews, to the blood libels in France, Iraq and elsewhere and the riots of killing and pillage that followed it, to pogroms in the Ukraines and the riots in Damascus, to the Warsaw Ghetto and the death camps of Auschwitz, Treblinka and Bergen-Belzen?” They proclaim that if He kept silent then -- surely He is not an intervening God, and does not carry out His fifty percent!

There were always those who, resentful of the relationship between God and Israel always went out of their way to treat the Jews with cruelty and rancor, to prove that God did not chose them, nor did He extend to them the tabernacle of His protection. But neither they nor our own doubting and nagating brothers ever ask the embarrassing question of the fact of our survival. No one ever asked how we have managed to live through all those horrid hard times of privation and persecution, to emerge into the sunlight of the end of the twentieth century strong and vibrant and creative. No one sees anything special, unique and, yes, even supernatural -- no providential intervention when every time a door closed in our face another opened; when we not only survived and overcame our persecutors -- but lived to see their downfall, one and all. World conquerors and their empires have turned to dust, but the seed of Abraham, that “crazy boy” who put his trust in a God that invited him to share a fifty-fifty covenant, continues to live and prosper to this day.

This success story is in danger today, because all too many Jews are leaving their heritage and faith behind, seeking blessings and fulfillment in other faiths, in other families. Our sons and daughters are being drawn away from Judaism -- not because our heritage is not worthwhile -- but because they are totally unfamiliar with it! Our culture, our literature, our history -- the core values of our family -- are unknown to our young! It is our duty, our debt to a thousand generations of the seed of Abraham, to reverse the trend. God has obviously kept His part of the cpvenant. If Judaism disappears in the next generation or two -- guess whose fifty percent has not been applied?

Our sages tell us that the second Temple was destroyed because of “sin’at akhim” -- brotherly hatred, and “sin’at khinam” -- baseless hatred. I would add to it the lack of unity and self respect for our heritage and history. Still, Am Yisrael Kha’y. The people of Israel, heir of Abraham, scion of God’s promise, lives, rejoices and celebrates. We have good reason to believe -- if only we know our heritage. So pass it on, tell your children, God IS a Righteous Sovereign. Amen, indeed, Amen!

5761

A story is told of a young man, about nineteen years old, who came from Warsaw to Vilna to the great Rabbi and sage, and asked to learn with him. He came before the Rabbi for an interview and said, "Revered Rabbi. I was the genius of my school in Warsaw. By my eighteenth birthday I had learned the entire Torah by heart, and I had been through the Talmud twice..." The great sage looked at the student quizzically and asked, "Yes, yes, I can see this. But how many times has the Talmud been through you?"
I will get back to this matter in a minute - but for now, let's look at this Shabbat and its lesson.
This Shabbat we read in the Torah the beginning of the story of the Jews – an ancient people, dating back four thousand years. Our "journey" to this evening began in Ur of the Chaldeans, which is a very far off place: according to most historians it was somewhere near the present town of Basra, in south-east Iraq near the Persian gulf. Our text reads, "And the Lord had said to Abram, Get out from your country, and from your family, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you; And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you; and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed." [Gen. 12:1-3]
While this is the beginning of the story of Abram, it is not the beginning of the "family" story. That story began at the end of last week's portion, where we read of Terakh, the father of Haran, Nahor and Abram. The text read, "Now these are the generations of Terah; Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. And Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldeans, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and lived there." [ibid 11:27-31]
Our sages explained the "history" of Terakh through legends and folk-tales. They said he was an idol maker, and an advisor to the king. They told of Abram breaking the idols his father made, to prove the point that they were NOT real "gods." And they told of how the god-king, Nimrod, hearing of Abram's discovery of the Holy One, Blessed be He, felt compelled to challenge him to pass through the furnace protected by his God to prove His power. They also told of Haran, the brother who "died before his father Terah." They said that Haran did not have Abram's faith - and had stood on the sideline to see what would happen to Abram in the furnace. If he would perish, Haran would continue to believe in the God-king of Ur, and if Abram survived... Well, that would prove something, too. When his brother came out unscathed, Haran proclaimed himself a believer – but, of course, his faith was skin-deep. He saw something that was beyond his understanding, and that grand event became his faith. The sages said that Nimrod next put him in the furnace, and he, too, came out intact. The two brothers hurried home, and there Haran collapsed and died. His faith was shallow, and his survival was just as shallow, lasting only long enough to prove the power of God to Nimrod and all his retinue. His skin and frame were intact, but his vital organ were damaged beyond survival.
That is why, said the sages, Terakh resolved to leave Ur. He realized that his family was in great danger there. He escaped the danger of Nimrod. Only Abram left because of the call of God.
Father Abram set out on a journey four thousand years ago, and his challenge, and his goal, was to get to "a land that I will show you." But the land is NOT really the object of the journey. Rather, it is a quest, a search for truth and peace, for the meaning of life - and its purpose. God invited Abram to go to a place where he will discover more of what was first revealed to him at Ur – that there is one God, that he is the creator and master of all that exists, and that the world exists in an equilibrium that He made and maintains. Except for humankind. We are the fly in the ointment – the Nimrod who casts believers into the furnace, and Haran, who, like so many after him, rushes in unprepared and unprotected.
Which brings us the Abram, our progenitor, the one to whom God promised,"in you shall all families of the earth be blessed." And to the story with which I opened this treatise. All too many people read the Torah and think that they understand and know it so well. Yes, "they have been through it twice before they were eighteen years old." Of course, "they know the full text by heart, chapter and verse." Yet, the text has not been through them – they don't get the message.
God did not "sign an exclusive contract" with our patriarch! Indeed, He made His covenant with Abram as a first step to regain a relationship with all of humanity. God thought to Himself that if people would only see this humble man, a nomad and a stranger in a land filled with evil – and note how he conducts himself with grace and loving kindness, with equanimity and honesty – they would surely "buy in" to his message of the universal God who loves all His creation.
Instead, Abram and his seed, the source of blessing for humanity, have been rejected and persecuted, despised and cast off, hated and estranged, shunned and expelled. Mighty nations made it their task to "prove" that God's word is not everlasting. And God, true to His word, cursed those who cursed Abram, and cast them on the garbage heap of history.
Still, the seed of Abram remains true to the original call of our God, to be a people who live by His teaching, to fulfill the mitzvot brought down from Sinai by His servant Moshe, to be His people and serve Him with all our heart and all our might - with love.
We cannot do it in ignorance. We cannot do it by accident. We cannot do it simply by having good intentions. We can only do it through education and practice. We must arm ourselves with knowledge – knowledge of our ancient texts, still cogent and powerful today as they were when they were given. We musyt fortify our resolve by becoming familiar with our history, our traditions, our holy tongue, and by knowing and loving one another. We can do nothing less and keep God's promise alive.

Amen