Let It Be Me

This week’s Torah portion is Lech Lecha, which means, go for yourself. God speaks to Abraham, whose name is still Abram until the end of this portion, for the very first time, with the offer of great blessing, if Abraham will follow God, leaving his native land to journey to Canaan in order to establish a new nation there. Abraham does so and God promises him the land four separate times in this portion. At the end of Lech lecha, God makes a covenant with Abraham: Abraham and his descendants accept God as the only God, and as the sign of the covenant, every male will be circumcised at the age of 8 days. God then gives Abraham and Sarah their new names. There is an interesting story in this portion about a war between local chieftains. Four kings were battling against 5 kings. Abraham hears that his nephew, Lot, has been captured and immediately arms his employees to enter the fray and rescue Lot. Abraham’s allies are victorious and Abraham brings Lot back.

The kings gather to divide the plunder, the spoils of war. The Torah says, “And Malchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God the Most High. Malchizekek blessed him and said, Blessed is Abram of God, the Most High, maker of Heaven and Earth, and blessed is God, the Most High, Who has delivered your foes into your hand. (Gen. 14:18). This man, Malchizedek, whose name means Righteous King, is very mysterious. This is his only mention in the Torah. Apparently he is a priest who is a monotheist, someone who worships the one God. And even more intriguing, he lives in Salem, in other words, Jerusalem, the place where Jacob eventually will settle. So there is a monotheist in the very same area where God has asked Abraham to settle.

This is even more strange when we take into account another line from last week’s portion. We are told at the end of the portion, Noah, “Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they departed from Ur of the Chaldees, to go to the land of Canaan; they arrived at Haran, and settled there” (11: 31). This verse tells us that Abraham’s Father, Terah, was also on his way to Canaan, but that he stopped and settled in Haran, which was still a part of Mesopotamia, and never completed the journey. Now Mesopotamia was the heart of civilization at this time. Canaan was the sticks. Why would anyone go there? Abraham’s brother had died in Ur. Terah had lost a child. Perhaps they were fleeing painful memories. Maybe we can see God’s hand in theses events.

It seems that perhaps God was trying to establish monotheism in this very specific place on the earth. Perhaps God tried to do this with Malchizedek, but it seems that Malchizedek’s influence was limited. Perhaps God tried to do this with Terah, Abraham’s father, but Terah didn’t follow through, whether through grief, exhaustion, or other factors. And then, God attempted it with Abraham, and this worked. Monotheism “took.” Abraham did establish monotheism in this very place, in Canaan, close to Jerusalem, and from there the knowledge of the One God has spread across the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, and the world. What can we glean from these verses and what is the Torah teaching us?

Perhaps it’s letting us know that God has many important tasks to carry out in the world and many things to teach humanity. These tasks can only be accomplished and these lessons can only be imparted through human beings. God therefore needs us to be God’s partners. Howard Schwartz, a professor at University of Missouri-St. Louis, a Jewish folklorist and mythologist said in an article in the Magazine, Reform Judaism, that “Rabbi Isaac Luria of Safed, known as the Ari was the first to propose that the Jewish people are God’s partners in repairing the world, The Ari did so by constructing a cosmic myth around the term Tikkun olam, In the Ari’s myth, the primordial light God sent forth on that first day is the same light scattered around our world as holy sparks, which each of us is called upon to seek out and gather.” This has become a mainstream Jewish teaching.

We are God’s partners in perfecting and continuing Creation. But we are imperfect. We don’t always follow through. Like Moses, who initially tried to evade the task God asked him to accomplish, leading the Israelites out of Egypt, we don’t always want to undertake the tasks presented to us. We can’t always complete what we have started. So God will keep trying to find the right person to bring more understanding into the world, and to accomplish what God thinks needs to be done. We are all called upon to do our part: a little part of all the things God would like done. May we be like Abraham, who, without hesitating, without arguing and without any delay, went forth to do what God asked of him. When something is asked of us: when we see how we can be of help and of service, may we say to the Source of Life, Hineni, just tell me what you want me to do, and whatever You, dear, Holy One wish to have done, Oh, let it be through me.