“Abram then continued on his way moving steadily toward the south”
Two parashot in the Torah are dedicated to Abraham’s story, Lech Lecha (לך לך) and Vayeira (וירא). Their names stem from the verbs that mean to walk and to see. Lech Lecha begins with God’s command to Abraham to walk—to the land that He will show him—to the Land of Canaan. Vayeira begins with God showing Himself to Abraham through the vision of the three angels that visited him. And so, we can say that because of Abraham’s walk, God showed Himself to Abraham.
THE 12 SENSES
Thus, in the two parashot dedicated to his life, the Torah focuses on Abraham’s two special “senses”: walking and sight. We call these “senses” because they are 2 of the 12 senses described in Sefer Yetzirah. The 12 senses correspond to the months of the year and later, were corresponded with the 12 Tribes. Walking is the third sense, corresponding to the month of Sivan and sight is the fourth, corresponding to Tammuz. Amazingly, in the Torah they appear in the exact same order: Lech Lecha, which corresponds to walking, is the 3rd parashah in the Torah, and Vayeira, corresponding to sight, is the 4th.
The most important verse that describes Abraham’s walking is in Lech Lecha and it reads, “Abram then continued on his way moving steadily towards the south” (הבגנה עסונ וךלו ם הרבע אסייו). After he arrives in the Land of Canaan, you might think that is the end of his journey. But Abraham understands that God’s command is for him to always be walking, always be in motion, so his travels continue as he goes further south.
The four cardinal directions correspond to the sefirot. Specifically, South represents loving-kindness (as well as wisdom). Abraham is thus constantly pursuing more and more loving-kindness through the act of traveling, and through his acts of loving-kindness, he is pushing to reach a level of seeing God. Both Abraham and his descendant Aharon the High Priest are referred to as men of loving-kindness. But Aharon’s name in Hebrew (אהרן) permutes to spell the word “seen” (נרא), alluding to the verse, “In Your [God’s] light, we shall see light” (נראך באורך).
In Chasidic teachings it is explained that Abraham represents the lower level of love (the inner experience of loving-kindness, chessed) known as worldly love (אהבה עולמית) and Aharon represents the higher level of love known as greater love (אהבה רבה). It is through the greater love that God is seen and so Abraham is constantly striving to reach this level in his travels south.
ABRAHAM THE MAN OF FAITH
Parashat Lech Lecha also states that Abraham was the first believer. Up to Abraham, there were righteous people, but no one had consummate faith in God. The entire Jewish people are Abraham’s descendants, and it is about him that we find the verse, “You shall see from the heights of faith” (אשור ממנא תשת). Thus, the walking leads to sight thanks to faith.
To merit seeing Godliness, to see the redemption, depends on opening our eyes to see that Mashiach is coming, and we derive this ability from the power of faith we inherit from Abraham.
How did this connection between walking and faith manifest in Abraham’s life? Abraham was sterile, and God promised him that he would have children. The Torah says, “He had faith in Havayah, and He [God] considered it charity” (והאמין ביהוה ויחשבה לו צדקה). This is a tremendous message for every Jew: there are things that we want very much, like a woman who wants to get married, but it does not happen. Still, even if something takes time, in the end it will come. Why is it delayed? To encourage us to pray for it. Similarly, the Patriarchs and Matriarchs were barren because God yearned for their prayer. God yearns for the prayers of tzaddikim.
As we’ll explain, first God wants us to have faith, and from faith we will have joy. After the barren woman gives birth, she is filled with joy, but to give birth in the first place, she needs to have joy. Joy is the key to redemption, to the good thing coming. The joy comes from believing that the good will come: “think good and it will be good.” The word, “with joy” (בשמחה) are also the letters of “thought” (מחשבה) guiding us to fill our thoughts with joy. By entertaining only good, joyful thoughts, we merit to see how, “the mother of the children is joyous” (אם הבנים שמחה), since thought is always associated with the mother principle, in Kabbalah. Through joy-filled thought, the mother merits becoming pregnant and giving birth to what she hoped for. Likewise, every descendant of Abraham the Hebrew, once he fills his thoughts with joy, he become “pregnant,” as it were, with what he yearned for and then merits to see it fulfilled.
SIMPLE, EARNEST FAITH IN GOD
One last connection we would like to make is between the south and faith. Upon entering the land, Abraham traveled steadily to the south. The south represents not only loving-kindness, the right axis of the sefirot, it also represents faith, because in Hebrew “right” (ימין) and “faith” (אמונה) are cognate. Even before coming to Eretz Yisrael, Abraham was the sole believe in One God. So, he was already with great faith. What added faith was he now pursuing by travelling to the south?
One explanation is that Abraham wanted to connect to God, not because of reason, but because of simple, earnest faith. The root of reason can be found in the fourth level of the soul known as “the living one” (חיה), and there is indeed a form of faith that is based on reason. However, Abraham was searching for the higher level of faith that does not depend on reason. This type of pure faith is situated in the fifth and highest level of the soul known as “the singular one” (יחידה). Every day of his life, Abraham discovered a new and deeper understanding of God—faith based on reason and knowledge. But at the same time, he had to let transcend this new understanding to reach a higher level of faith. Thus, every day he had to travel further south, further on the path of faith.
(Excerpted from a lecture given on the 13th of Cheshvan, 5773)
