19/20 Oct : Lech Lecha: Shabbat comes in 5:44 pm, ends 6:44 pm
Kerouac’s On the Road, Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, Conrad’s Lord Jim. Our forty years of wandering. Such journeys resonate through time, and stay with us.
A relationship is a journey. In a healthy one we problem-solve; we integrate the conflict. I can’t imagine Avraham divorcing Sarah for being infertile, or Sarah leaving him because he is too old. They never say: “This is too hard. Forget this.” Avraham realises early on that he is a driving force for God. It is his responsibility to take step after step…to rise rung after rung…to a place where he can fulfil his divine work here on earth.
Yet Avraham is not described in the Torah as is Noah, “righteous man for his generation” (Gen. 6:9). According to our sages, this poses a question. Why is Avraham not being introduced with some praise? I think that if he was already so very righteous he would have a shorter path to travel. But no, he has a long journey. Avraham can keep moving forward and transforming, step after step, and so can we.
Written by Rabbi Paul Arberman
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