Leah’s Blog – Parshat Lech Licha – 2025
Leah’s Blog – Lech Lecha – October 2025
We are a storytelling people; the book we use- the Torah, Berieshit being the blueprint for everything we remember and transmit on. Generational changes within the story have us understanding even today’s events. What has kept us alive has been the constant continuity of repeating the stories week after week. Exploring the character of each Matriarch and Patriarch sheds light onto our national and even personal story. The legacy of Abraham and Sarah “running” to do chesed- of walking from one place into another sheds light on the patterns of our people in history and now. Restored now, Israel is walking into Eretz Yisrael as Abraham did (Lech Lecha)- לך אל עצמך- לך לך – GO TO YOURSELF.
The foundational stories serve as the template for all things to come. The patterns of the stories are revived. The things we know about the family of Abraham navigating through the complexities of being given by G-d a gift like no other- a land for a nation, no less than the very center of the world, a tiny speck yet significant for all time and peoples. There are battles, there are unions, there is love, and hardly “ordinary life”.
Abraham aches for peace and prays for Sodom. His grandchildren take a different approach and decimate the city of Shechem after Dina is taken and defiled there. Time passes between father and son, the tests and tribulations embedded into the blessing of the Land continue. The fragments of what was are upon us now too- even in this time of restoration. Everything is an oxymoron here- then and now. There is blessing, there is curse- perhaps that is why when Abraham finally stops walking he reaches this place- the mountains of the Blessing and the Curse. The stones here are the living dead- they have witnessed his footsteps here, and the footsteps of our nation as we entered the land with Joshua. The land remembers as our footsteps touch the stones now. The repetition of this story is an open secret. Abraham represents liberalism and nationalism simultaneously. He is the father of multitudes but is one individual for a very long time.
More than anything- he was promised a land- but was willing to sacrifice his son for it. Isaac was willing. We send our sons to the IDF. THEY WANT TO FINISH THE JOB WILLINGLY. ה” תשמור על כל חיילינו
Abraham asks- “What can I do for you?” Not what can you do for me.
Flying in a time machine to now- we are as in Yosef’s dreams- קם וניצב- -standing erect – yet an organized mess here. Same oxymoron. We settle, we build roads- our government has not yet declared sovereignty over our biblical heartland, the beating heart of Israel. Even more troubling, we have abandoned our holy sites like the Tomb of Yosef and have been portrayed as taboo Jewish settlers. We build new age high risers, sell technology to the world yet we are stuck in a quagmire in Gaza. The paradigm- Israel- Yishmael- Esav: it takes us to this very day.
Israel followed Hashem through the desert in a land unsown. Many have shown obedience despite the hardships- like Abraham- we shall overcome all obstacles be it through litigation or if needed- war on the beasts that defiled us. Our journey continues yet and reveals the vital connection we have and need to complete the story.
Shabbat Shalom and blessings to all our dear friends!
Leah
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