Hearing the Divine Call

Sfat Emet notes that Naḥmanides’ questions why the parasha begins with God’s direct address to Abram “lech l’cha” (go), without having previously mentioned that Abram served God and was a righteous person (as the verses note in last week’s Parasha, concerning Noach).

Based upon the Zohar, Sfat Emet says that “lech l’cha” itself is great praise of Abram. The divine decree “lech l’cha” is sounded to all of mankind. It was only Abram who heard God’s call and was ready to respond. Thus, the verse has no need to explicitly mention Abram’s righteousness.

My father commented that unfortunately, often through our history, the Jews have heard the words “lech l’cha, go; get out of our land; leave the country in which you were born,” sounded by the heads of countries which at one time had welcomed the Jews. England, France, Portugal and Spain are among the countries which expelled their Jewish citizens. Perhaps it is our fate that if we ignore the divine call of lech l’cha, we are destined to hear the human call of lech l’cha.