Abraham's deeply spiritual journey

Torah study

RABBI SANFORD AKSELRAD
Lech Lecha/Genesis 12:1-17:27

"Adonai said to Abram, 'Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.' ...

Abram went forth as Adonai had commanded him. (Genesis 12:1, 4)

Lech Lecha defines the ultimate journey of humanity. Within each of us there is a search for meaning. Lech Lecha defines this search as one that is deeply spiritual.

The words "Adonai said to Abram, 'Go forth from your native land' " are remarkable in how Abram reacted to them. Most of us, upon hearing a voice asking us to leave all that is dear to us to go to a foreign land, would wonder if we were indeed sane.

Abram was gifted with the ability to hear God's voice in a way that most of us think is impossible, but all of us are able to do.

The Rabbis sought to explain this by telling the Midrash of Abraham as a young boy. In the Midrash, Abraham went out and observed the world, wondering who created it. During the day he prayed to the sun. But when the sun set, he decided that the moon was much more powerful. When the moon sank in the west and the sun rose once again in the east, he realized that neither of them could be the Creator. Abraham realized that there was a higher God.

Abraham had an ability that we all have - namely, to hear God's voice - but in Abraham it was more finely developed.

In heeding God's words, he set off on a journey. But it was more than just a geographic journey; it was a spiritual journey in which he would find his beliefs changed forever.

Toward the end of Lech Lecha, we learn that Abram's name is changed to Abraham. In Genesis 17:5 the Torah recounts, "And your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham." Likewise, in Genesis 17:15 his wife Sarai also had her name changed from Sarai to Sarah. Abram's and Sarai's name changes indicate spiritual transformation.

Abraham may be the paradigmatic journeyman in Judaism. And as the first Jew perhaps he sets us on a path toward our own spiritual development.

Once, a young man whose wife died in a car accident came to speak to me. ... He told me that he couldn't pray now, when he needed God most, because he felt like a hypocrite. He had never prayed before, and he didn't think he had the right to start a relationship with God when he had no history with God.

I said to him, "God is already in a relationship with you. ... God already knows you and already loves you. God suffers with you and is longing to hear your voice."

We are in a relationship with God every day whether we notice it or not. God is waiting for our response.

(Naomi Levy, "Talking to God," Knopf Publishing Group)

1. Have you ever sensed God's presence? How was that experience different from your experience of other relationships?
   
   
2. Oftentimes God speaks to biblical figures in the desert. Do you think that location influences our ability to hear God?