Lech Lecha Dvar 2011/5772
Ready to go?
I hope that by this evening everyone, everywhere has their power back after the October nor’easter that bent trees, tore down wires, and knocked out power to 3 million people in the tri state area.
At one point during the three days that I did not have power, I strongly considered establishing a Jewish Amish sect, giving up electricity altogether for wood burning stoves and fireplaces, or another alternative, setting up my own solar panels and windfarm in the backyard.
We made it through our time with the help of friends and I hope that everyone in our community who lost power found a way through the outages with safety and security.
What was compelling though was not the power outage itself, I had been through those before. What was compelling was the feeling of frustration and inertia. The feeling that we could not get moving on time-sensitive projects and plans we had hoped to complete during the blackout.
Avram, though, seems to feel no sense of inertia when God says to him “Lech Lecha”! Leave your land, your birthplace, your father’s house and go to the Land I will show you. God instructs him to go, and then he goes.
In practice though, it is difficult to just pick up and leave, especially if the power is out, although Avram was not concerned with either snow or PSE&G.
There are a thousand questions to answer before we leave home whether for a short trip to the market or during a cold, dark evening in October. Should we go or wait? What do we need to take and what will we carry everything in? Where are we going and for how long? What will happen with our home while we are gone?
I want to know what Avram was thinking between when he heard God’s call and when he decided to continue his journey west. What did his wife Sarai say about the trip? After all, travel in those days was even more difficult than today, with pack animals and no Kosher Nosh and Shop Rite along the way to pick up lunch.
The ‘what’ and ‘how’ questions are only the beginning for us as they are for Avram, Sarai, and their family. There are questions that come from the heart: What will it feel like to leave? How will we react to feeling displaced? Will I learn anything from the experience? Will I be the same person or a new person when I get back?
What was Avram thinking when he left?
Ideas….open the floor.
It is my prayer today as we still wait for everyone’s power to be restored that everyone will return home safely to their homes and that everyone’s lives get back into their routines. It is also my prayer that in all our journeys we will have the presence of mind, and ability to step back and see at least most of the picture of what we need in items and what we feel inside. Then, whatever the circumstances of the trip may be, we will travel with the fullness of faith that inspires Avram to travel even when God does not tell him exactly where is headed when he packs up his family and strikes out west across the wilderness.
Shabbat Shalom.
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