Our Sidra is called Lech Lecha, which is a striking name. LECH means GO. But what does Lecha mean in this context? According to Rashi it implies that God told Abram to go for his own benefit. Nachmanides disagrees. He argues that this is simply a Hebrew expression. The pronoun ‘Lecha’ is often attached to verbs which denote movement. There are many examples including the name of the Sidra Sh’lach Lecha.
With the words Lech Lecha, God commanded Abram to leave his birthplace and his father’s home. There is a disagreement amongst the commentators as to the identity of his birth place and where it was that God spoke to him. According to one view, which is based on a passage in the book of NEHEMIAH, which we recite every morning in the Shacharit service, his birthplace was Ur of the Chaldees. This is also where God spoke to him for the first time.
Nachmanides maintains that Abram was born in Charan and that God spoke to him there. He points to the fact that the Bible says that Abram was born in EVER HANAHAR, on the other side of the Euphrates, which has to be identified with CHARAN. After Terach died in Charan, God spoke to Abram and commanded him to continue his journey to the land of Canaan.
The difficulty with the first theory, that Abram was commanded to leave UR, is the fact that at the end of the Sidra of No’ach, the Torah tells us that Terach, Abram’s father, left Ur to go to the land of Canaan, together with his family. In other words, Abram left his native land because his father took him from there and not because God told him to leave.
If we follow this view, we must assume that Terach took the initiative by leaving UR, because he wanted to support Abram, when he heard about the Almighty’s call to his son. This interpretation implies that Terach understood Abram and wanted to help him. This is despite the fact that he himself remained an Idol worshipper throughout his life. We may also assume that Terach wanted to leave the land, because Abram’s life was in danger. The Midrash tells us that when Abram began to make his beliefs known, the King, whose name was Nimrod, pursued him and threw him into a furnace. Only a miracle saved him.
Some modern writers have offered a contemporary interpretation regarding the profound contrast between father and son, Terach and Abram, as they left Ur of Chaldees together. Both left for very long journey in the direction of the land of Canaan. The father, who left voluntarily, remained in Charan, whereas his son, who left because he had been commanded to, reached his destination. Abram was an active Zionist and became passionately committed to settling in the land. On the other hand, Terach was only a Zionist at heart. He recognised the importance of the land of Israel, but felt it was too difficult to make the journey and preferred to stay in Charan. This is the fate of the Land of Israel. The vast majority of the Jewish people today recognise the importance of the State of Israel, but not everybody wants or is able to live there.
Abraham was commanded to abandon his previous life completely and start a new life. He even changed his language. According to the mediaeval philosopher, Rabbi Yehudah Halevi, Abram spoke Aramaic In his father’s house; but, he also learnt Hebrew on the basis of traditions which he received from Adam and No’ach. Aramaic was his everyday language and Hebrew was already the holy tongue. Hebrew was the language of the land of Canaan. When Abram settled there, he began to speak it at all times. It became the exclusive language of the family. We find that Jacob was passionately committed to the Hebrew language and never compromised, not even in his dealings with Laban who spoke Aramaic.
According to the Torah, human beings were originally monotheists and served only one God. We can see this from the earlier accounts of the lives of Adam, Sheth, Chanoch, No’ach and Shem. There were good practices in the homes of these men which developed over the generations. However, gradually the belief in one God was forgotten, until Abram came onto the scene.
Many people ask: Why is the Torah silent about Abram’s debates and arguments with his contemporaries, regarding his newly discovered beliefs and his total rejection of idolatry? Both our mediaeval commentator Nachmanides as well as the great biblical scholar, Yechezkel Kaufman, answer that the Torah was not interested in recording the views of idolaters. Moses also refrained from conducting debates with Pharaoh regarding beliefs. He fought for justice and not for Monotheism.
Abram made an enormous impact upon everyone who came into contact with him. Pharaoh received him in Egypt with friendship and treated him with respect when he left. Avimelech, who was the King of the Gerar, made a treaty with him. He also had allies. Their names were Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. They came to his aid when he went to war against the four Kings who attacked the region of Sodom and captured Abram’s nephew Lot. Abram came back from the battle, to find a warm reception which had been organised by the monotheistic King of Jerusalem, whose name was Malkizedek, and who was also a priest to the Most High God. It seems that Abram struck a very warm relationship with this religious King.
At the end of the Sidra, we find the first reference to the great Mitzvah of Brit Milah, circumcision. In the Maftir we are told that Abram fulfilled this mitzvah on the very day that he had been commanded to do it. Many people had to be circumcised on that day. First Abram circumcised Ishmael and Isaac. Then he circumcised his 318 closest servants and many other servants who were less close. Abraham himself was circumcised last because he wanted to be in charge. For him it was a particularly difficult ordeal, because he was 99 years old. In his zeal to perform this mitzvah Abraham became a great role model. To this day, we learn from him that we should perform every mitzvah as soon as we have the opportunity to do so. This is why Brit Milah takes place early in the morning, whenever this is practically possible. We have a special Hebrew dictum for the principal of being enthusiastic to observe the Commandments, as early as we can: “Zerizim Makdimim Lamitzvoth.”