Dear friends, 

In this week’s parasha, God says to Abram (not yet Abraham), lekh lekha, go for yourself from your native land and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. God continues and says: I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. And then we read that Abram goes. He leaves. He walks away with his nephew Lot, just as God commanded Abram to do. 

These opening verses elicit many questions. My teacher Dr. Walter Herzberg, himself a student of Bible studies innovator Dr. Nehama Leibowitz, always encouraged his students to ask questions on the text before digging into commentary. The question I have been pondering this week is, “What was in Abraham’s suitcase?” Or asked differently, we read that Abraham took his wife, his nephew and his wealth and they set out for Haran. 

But what else did he take with him?

What part of himself did he take with him and what did he leave behind? 

Abraham probably had some concerns and worries that preceded this initial encounter with God. His wife was barren. How did that impact him? Maybe Abraham had regrets about some aspects of his life until that point. Did Abraham take time to work through them before he left? Did he leave behind unsettled business? If so, did this impact Abraham while he followed God? 

As I shared in a guided meditation during Torah and Tree Pose this week:

Consider how the past cannot be changed.
All we can do in the present is to learn from it, 
Put in whatever corrections make sense,
Become more skillful,
Become a better person,
And move on. 

When we move forward, whether it be literally, emotionally, or spiritually, it is important to remember that we cannot change the past. Rather, our goal is to learn from the past, make corrections as necessary, and move forward and carry on.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Fryer Bodzin